Spread Your Wings
by Ebona Nite
Summary: AU: Harry goes to a different school, makes new friends, and learns about his role in the world. Things start coming to a head in Fifth Year, when the War and Hogwarts converge on him. HPLL, femBZOC, OCs; minor slash. ON HOLD
1. Leaving the Nest

_**Disclaimer:**_ I do not own _Harry Potter_ or any of the characters in it. I salute JKRowling for her wonderful writing skills. This is a poor tribute to her in the form of a fanfiction.

**Spread Your Wings**

**Chapter One: Leaving The Nest**

_**By Ebona Nite**_

_4-4-2007_

A small, scrawny boy in oversized clothes glanced confusedly around the small alley, absently smoothing his messy black hair down over the lightning bolt shaped scar on his forehead. It was a tiny, grubby alley with a trash can in one corner and grubby bricks. Certainly not Diagon Alley!

Harry Potter looked over at his companion, a large – one might say huge – man carrying a pink umbrella, who had moved over to the far wall and was muttering to himself as if trying to remember something. This was Rubeus Hagrid, groundskeeper and Keeper of the Keys at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Harry had been picked up around midnight from his relatives and taken into London for school shopping after Hagrid had sent off an owl with a letter for the Hogwarts headmaster. But this didn't look like any sort of shopping center. He was beginning to wonder and the sanity of wizards in general. Or at least the lack of logic. Before Harry could ask Hagrid just what they were doing at the back of the pub called the Leaky Cauldron, Hagrid straightened up.

"Righ' I remember now! 'Ere we go… Three up… Two across… remember tha' now, 'Arry." The overlarge groundskeeper said, and tapped a brick with his umbrella.

The bricks rumbled and pulled themselves apart, sliding back to form an archway, and behind the wall –

Harry gaped. "Welcome 'Arry, to Diagon Alley!" Hagrid proclaimed with a grin, and ushered the small boy through.

The alley was crowded with people in all colors of robes, shops lined the narrow street, and Harry felt he couldn't take enough of it in. Luckily everyone there was too busy with their own shopping for a repeat performance of the ecstatic mob in the Leaky Cauldron, Harry thought vaguely as Hagrid led the way up steps of a tall white marble building proclaiming itself "Gringotts Wizarding Bank". Harry read the strange epitaph by the door, and wondered. "Hagrid, is that for real?"

"Wha'? Yeah – they got lots o' ways of keeping wizards' gold safe. Some vaults even got dragons!"

"There – there's really such things dragons?"

"Why sure there are! Lovely things, dragons. Wish I had one."

Harry privately wondered just why anyone would want one, but didn't say anything. It was Hagrid's dream, and it wasn't like Harry knew anything about the Wizarding World. Several minutes later Harry had learned that goblins ran the bank, that the carts seemed to him rather like a roller coaster – he enjoyed the ride, but Hagrid was already looking a bit green – and was desperately trying to remember wizarding currency.

Harry watched with curiosity as Hagrid picked up a small package from Vault 713 before staggering back to the cart. He nodded when Hagrid told him it was "best to forget" about their little side-trip, but committed it to memory anyway. Sometimes the smallest pieces of seemingly random knowledge could be of great use at a later date, Harry had learned. Of course, sometimes they were just small pieces of random knowledge. But often Harry found he enjoyed learning things anyway, through reading (when he could sneak to the school or public library without repercussions), listening to conversations and observing people. Harry had cultivated the art of being unnoticeable – a necessity around his cousin and Dudley's friends who liked to bully him, and so unnoticed he watched, and listened, and learned.

That's what threw him off the most here in the wizarding world. Here he was famous, and people kept recognizing him and wanting to shake his hand. Harry longed to shrink back in the shadows and not be noticed anymore. In his experience, attention was always bad for the health. He'd been hoping to be normal, to make some friends and not be the "freak" that everyone liked to bully. Now he was a "freak" of a different kind – a famous one. It was altogether unnerving.

Later, as Hagrid took Harry back to Surrey, the reluctant Boy-Who-Lived began cataloging all the things he learned that day. Magic was real, his parents had been killed by a dark wizard named Voldemort – or You-Know-Who, he must remember that – and he was famous for stopping the wizard even though he couldn't remember it and he had been only a year old. Owls were used for post – he'd have to name his snowy owl later. The Leaky Cauldron had rooms for rent as well as a pub, he'd seen people going up and down stairs, and a ledger book near the cash register. Goblins ran the bank – yet wizards treated them very rudely if the snatches of conversation he'd heard in Gringotts were any indicator; what was stopping the goblins from refusing the rude people service, or going on strike? I mean the goblins control all the money - lock the doors and everyone would go broke! It was just plain stupid to be rude to your bankers, even if you didn't like them.

He'd learned quite a few other things from observation as well as from asking a few choice questions. He made sure to remember one observation in particular: The Leaky Cauldron, entrance to Diagon Alley, was on Charring Cross Road in London. That would come in handy later, he was sure of it.

One thing Harry knew for certain, his "family" was not going to be happy with him coming back to Privet Drive. They wouldn't be happy to see his "freak" things and his poor owl would probably be considered vermin. Harry had seen the murderous look on Uncle Vernon's face as Hagrid took him away last night. He doubted he'd be welcome back "home".

He was right. Hagrid dropped him off, warned the cowering Dursley's to be nice and to get him to King's Cross Station on September 1st, and left with a cheery good-bye.

Harry gulped.

His uncle glared down at him and his things in the hallway, large face turning purple. "I'll not have it." He growled, "I'll not have anymore of your freakishness! We've fed you and clothed you, given you a place to sleep for ten years! TEN YEARS we've put up with you! NO MORE! I'll not have you contaminating Dudley and my home with any of your freakish filth! OUT! GET OUT!"

Vernon Dursley's small, green-eyed nephew quailed at his shouting, and grabbed his things. Then Harry took a shaky breath, and summoned up as much courage as he could. The plan that had been forming on the way back was returning to him now, some things had to be set in motion much sooner than he'd thought, rather than disappearing after the school year (since the Dursley's would never want him back after he'd actually begun to _learn_ magic) he'd have to go now.

"U-uncle Vernon? Um, if, if you could give me a ride –"

"WHAT?! WHAT PART OF 'GET OUT' DON'T YOU UNDERSTAND BOY?"

"B-but an officer might see me with this trunk, and bring me back. S-so if you dropped me off in London…"

Vernon quieted down, and began chewing on the ends of his mustache, thinking it over. The Boy was right, he might be forced to come back unless Vernon left him far away.

"London you say?"

Harry nodded, hoping his luck would hold out. "Charring Cross Road, in London. I won't come back."

Vernon glared at him, and then nodded brusquely. "Alright, get in the car. Get your freak things in the trunk. And I better not see your freakish face ever again!"

And so with the glares of his Aunt Petunia and cousin Dudley burning into his back and his Uncle Vernon starting the car, Harry began dragging his things outside.

**Author's End Notes: **Okay, chapter one done! Sorry it's rather short, I didn't really want to go into detail on the Diagon Alley trip just yet.

**9-15-2008 Edit Note:** I lost my original notes after finishing this chapter. I finally came up with a new angle, though I'm sure I had been heading for a Slytherin!Harry plot, but you have to admit that is vastly overused. Anyway I added a couple small points to the chapter above, took out the authors note proclaiming what I'd do next chapter that obviously I didn't, and reissued this chapter. Not much differences though.


	2. A New School Year Begins

_**Disclaimer:**_ I do not own _Harry Potter_ or any of the characters in it. I salute JKRowling for her wonderful writing skills. This is a poor tribute to her in the form of a fanfiction.

**Spread Your Wings**

**Chapter Two: A New School Year Begins**

_**By Ebona Nite**_

**_9-15-2008_**

A small, green-eyed boy with a lightning bolt shaped scar smiled. He'd learned that magic was real and about his heritage, made a new friend, and was on a train heading for his new school to learn magic. Life was good.

The Hogwarts Sorting of 1991 continued like any other. Hagrid had led the first years across the Lake and brought them to McGonagall, who in turn brought them into the Great Hal and had the line up between the tables. Holding up a scroll of parchment, she was reading off names. Muggleborn, halfblood, and pureblood children all soon found their way to one of the four House tables.

Bones, Susan had gone to Hufflepuff. Longbotton, Neville had run off to Hufflepuff with the Sorting Hat still attached to his head and had to bring it back with embarrassment. Malfoy, Draco went to Slytherin, no surprise there. But the most important name, the one boy everyone (except perhaps the potions professor) was looking forward to and wondering where he'd end up, if he'd be in Gryffindor like his parents…. Was about to be called.

"Potter, Harry!"

Whispers broke out in the Great Hall as staff and students alike craned their necks to try and get a glimpse of the boy hero.

"Potter did she say?"

"Harry Potter!"

"He's come…."

"I don't see him…."

"Well where is he?"

"_Potter. Harry_." McGonagall annunciated, looking up from he list. The first years shifted uneasily, looking about among themselves. No one stepped forward. No messy black hair, no bright green eyes and big glasses, and especially no lightning bolt scar.

Albus Dumbledore, Headmaster of Hogwarts and a great many other things besides, stood.

"Harry Potter?"

But he wasn't there.

* * *

**Author's Note:** Okay, now I know where I'm going with this again! If this little interlude sounds interesting, please review! The more reviews I get the more I'll get prodded into continuing. Thank you to everyone who hung on and waited for me, sorry about taking so long!

**Edit Note:** This chapter is sort of preview-ish, since this chapter is set about a month ahead of events. The next few chapters go over the events of August. Sorry if this caused some confusion.


	3. The Letter

**_Disclaimer:_** I do not own Harry Potter, he belongs to JKRowling. This is fanfiction purely for entertainment and I'm not making any money off it (darn!).

**Spread Your Wings**

_**By Ebona Nite**_

**Chapter Three: The Letter**

The month of August of 1991 was the most interesting time Harry Potter had ever had. It had started at midnight, July 31st with his birthday, and Hagrid knocking down the door of the tiny hut on the rock his uncle had rented to get away from the swarms of letters. After Hagrid had left and his Uncle Vernon had dropped him off at Charring Cross Road in London, with firm instructions to never darken the doorway of 4 Privet Drive again, Harry had rented a room at the Leaky Cauldron.

He had full access to Diagon Alley now, and with a few extra galleons a day Tom the barkeeper and proprietor had put his name down in the ledger book as "Jimmie Grey." A brief stop off at Gringotts turned into a somewhat longer stop, as he discovered that the Potter account manager was actually Griphook, the goblin who had taken him to his trust vault before, and that he had more than one vault. He had the locks and keys changed, as someone apparently had absconded with the originals, and Griphook started a review of all the vaults. Luckily nothing was missing except the keys.

He'd taken a tour through the three Family Vaults, and had picked out a few items to bring with him, among them a family heirloom invisibility cloak. Grabbing some more money, he'd then made his way to Flourish and Blott's.

He got a large amount of books, and then spent a week researching the British Wizarding society and reading _Hogwarts, a History_ from cover to cover. He was not impressed. Prejudice ran rampant, and pureblood father aside he may as well have been one of the despised muggleborns. Those who didn't despise the non-magically raised tended to think of them with mild contempt and confusion, few wanting or attempting to understand the non-magical way of life and even fewer offering help for the muggle-raised to learn in-depth about the magical world in any other way than trial-and-error, and even then there was cross-culture confusion.

On the morning of August 15, Harry awoke to find an envelope sitting on the dresser, with a letter and pamphlet inside.

_Dear Mr. H. Potter,_

_Greetings young magic user. As you have been raised in a non-magical environment and may not know that magic exists, we have sent along a pamphlet with information you may find useful and even interesting. For further proof, please speak your full name to this parchment and allow one drop of your blood to fall on it; further information will be revealed once your identity has been confirmed. Feel free to browse the pamphlet before you commit to bloodletting. And do be careful when you prick yourself, the parchment only needs a single drop, anymore would be overkill, perhaps even to yourself._

Harry gaped at the parchment a moment. The letter was unsigned, but whoever it was he liked their sense of humor. Not to mention their obvious security. Although he was wary of giving out his blood to just anything.

He did, however, "browse the pamphlet" as the odd letter suggested. It was very good, much more than Hogwarts' "you've been accepted" letter. It talked about accidental magic, magical communities and their hidden natures, several different magical schools including some nearby day schools and Hogwarts. The last page spoke about security spells of different levels, up to and including voice, magical signature, and blood/DNA scanning which were used a lot in Gringotts. In fact, Harry had already done a blood and magic scan to get his vault keys changed and reissued.

Not seeing what else to do, and suspecting this was in fact a very late acceptance letter for another magical school, Harry carefully gave himself a small papercut on the edge of the mysterious parchment and spoke his name. Immediately more writing begin to appear, as he stuck his stinging finger in his mouth.

_Thank you for your trust, Mr. Potter.We have been attempting to contact you with similar letters since you were eight and a particularly strong and focused burst of accidental magic brought you to our attention._

This made Harry think back a moment. He thought he knew what they were talking about – he'd been eight when he'd somehow transported himself to the school roof to get away from the Harry-Hunting gang led by Dudley. It was probably that incident they meant, whoever they were.

_We would like to offer you a place in our school, Atlantis Academy. This is, indeed, located on Atlantis. _

_Non-magical and magical people alike have legends about the lost island-continent of Atlantis. To the non-magicals, it was destroyed and sank into the ocean. The magicals, however, have more truth in their stories though even they do not know everything. Atlantis was hidden by strong wards, they say, and is the site for a prestigious private magical academy, which every so often chooses a few of the strongest witches and wizards from around the world to attend. The Hogwarts Founders were reportedly schooled there._

_I can confirm several of these points, and dismiss the rest. Atlantis was not hidden, it was removed from your dimension, set into its own "pocket-universe" and then expanded to include several smaller islands and archipelago. It holds a university as well as a grade level school, and his home to its own community. Non-magical people are a minority, but some do live there, a few even work as teachers._

_Atlantis was removed by two seraphim (what you might know as six-winged angels) who then founded the community and the academy and university. The Hogwarts Founders did indeed go to the academy, which is where they came up with the idea for a school for witches and wizards. We of Atlantis have much more interaction with the world than most of Europe realize, as not everyone stays and many enjoy having jobs off the Island. _

_We do sometimes invite strong magical beings from the Outside to attend and even live here, but not always the strongest. More often we look for gifts and abilities along with personalities and attitudes that can fit in with our community. For you see, Atlantis is home for all magical beings, not just humans, including vampires, centaurs, merfolk, and others. Our academy and university are open to all beings and offer non-magical as well as magical classes._

_We would like to offer you a place in the Atlantis Academy. This letter is only a brief introduction; for details and in-depth discussion of the school and community, we feel a face-to-face meeting with one of our staff members would serve far better as it would allow you to ask whatever questions you would like and gives you time to make your decision. Should you wish such a meeting, please write your reply and send it in the envelope that came with this letter. Just say "Atlantis Academy Recruiters' Office" and the envelope will take your reply to us._

_Sincerely,_

_Sharon Toar, Head of Atlanis Academy Recruiters' Office_

Harry didn't need to think about it this time. It already sounded better than Hogwarts. He wrote a quick reply, requesting the meeting, and sent the envelope.

Now it was off to the bookstore to see if he could find anything about Atlantis and its academy.

* * *

**Author's Note:** Sorry the last chapter was so short. It was more of a preview than a full chapter. I'm going to try to slowly work up to longer chapters, but it depends on how much I can manage to write in one go before losing my train of thought and needing a break. Anyway, I hope to get another chapter out sometime this week, but it depends on how busy I get. I intend to get August finished and send Harry off to school in the next chapter, with any luck I'll manage all of that in a single long chapter. Ta ta for now!


	4. Meetings

**_Disclaimer:_** I do not own Harry Potter, that book series belongs to the genius JKRowling. This fanfiction is purely for entertainment and makes no money. But I did find a nickel on the ground!

**Spread Your Wings**

_**By Ebona Nite**_

**Chapter Four: Meetings**

The next morning as Harry was finishing breakfast in the Leaky Cauldron, a tall woman with shocking green hair walked in from the muggle side of the pub. She attracted several stares for her hair as she made his way straight over to Harry.

The young woman stopped in front of him. "Harry Potter?"

"Er, yes?"

"Althea Marone, Atlantis Academy recruiter. I believe you requested a meeting to discuss the academy and community."

"Oh! Right, please sit down. I'm just finished now."

The green haired lady smiled. "Well if you are finished, there is one other human magic user in Britain I'm meeting today. I thought you might like to get to know another potential student, and perhaps you can ask her or her father little more about the magical community here; I'm afraid I'm not too up to date with British current events, as I'm more used to recruiting in America."

Harry nodded, left the money for the food on the counter in front of Tom, and followed her out of the Leaky Cauldron into Diagon Alley. Apparently they were meeting the girl and her father at Florean Fortescue's Ice Cream Parlour. A bit too early for ice cream, in Harry's opinion, having just eaten breakfast, but then again from what he'd observed it was one of the few places in the Alley you could sit down away from the crowd.

Althea led him over to a table in the corner, where a man with blonde hair and bright orange robes sat, a small platinum-blonde girl reading an upside-down newspaper next to him. "Mr. Lovegood, Luna Lovegood?"

"Yes, hello! You must be the recruiter sent from Atlantis." Mr. Lovegood stood up to shake her hand and introduce himself as the girl named Luna folded up her newspaper and lay it aside. She turned large dreamy blue eyes on Harry.

"Oh hello. I'm Luna. Are you also going to Atlantis?"

"I'm considering it. I'm Harry by the way, nice to meet you." Luna nodded and hummed a little, staring off into space over his left shoulder. "The wrackspurts are leaving you alone. That's good."

"Er… wrackspurts? What are they?"

"They float into people's ears and make their brains go fuzzy. A lot of people have them. It's good to see you don't." Luna smiled, a tad vaguely, at him and turned towards Althea. Harry blinked and then shrugged it off and sat down. It wasn't like he'd done any researched on magical creatures, so for all he knew "wrackspurts" existed. He'd have to find a book on creatures and magical pests sometime soon. Obviously dragons really existed, which meant unicorns and fairies probably did too, but who knows what other things might as well! Maybe he could ask Luna later.

"Okay. I've set up some privacy wards so we aren't bothered. A little about me first: I'm Althea Marone, age 20, just graduated from Atlantis Academy myself, and my hair is green for a year because I lost a bet. I've been working as a recruiter for the last two summers. Ask me any questions you think of, and don't be afraid to interrupt. That's what I'm here for! Besides, I have this spiel memorized. Okay, here we go." Althea cleared her throat and adopted a lecturing tone.

"Your letters should have given you a brief summary of the history of Atlantis. It was once a large island about the size of Madagascar off the coasts of southern Europe and northern Africa in the Atlantic Ocean. It was and still is home to a variety of magical creatures and beings, though a relatively low population of humans. About 3000 years ago two seraphs, or really 'seraphim' is the proper plural but both are used, grew concerned over a vision one had had of population growth of humans magical and non-magical alike as a growing threat to magical creatures and their habitats, and of persecution of non-human beings. So they removed Atlantis as a preservation. More about that is gone over in history class.

"The island was expanded and several smaller islands and an archipelago were magically made, and the topography somewhat changed in places to include a wider variety of environments for different species. Some salt-water and fresh-water lakes put in, small mountain range added, larger variety of trees planted, stuff like that. It's our own little continent, completely sovereign to itself, not part of any other country. The Island is still out in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean, but now in a sort of "pocket dimension" parallel to the Outside, or the rest of the world. There's a way of flying, swimming, or sailing in over the ocean and crossing the dimension barriers, Going Sideways its called, but you have to be a citizen to be taught how."

"Can we become citizens?" Harry asked.

"All students have temporary citizenship and a choice to keep the citizenship as permanent after graduating. Most Outside students eventually choose permanent citizenship though usually with dual citizenship with their home country, but it isn't required. You can stay on Atlantis over breaks or go Outside, whichever you'd like." Althea answered.

"Anyway, around the early Roman Empire the concept of a school with multiple students per teacher was invented. So we took that idea and the Atlantis Academy was founded in 389AD; the Celeste University was founded a few centuries later when the master-apprentice system for specializations in higher learning began to decline in popularity. Somewhat before the concepts of Universities in the Outside, we got to pioneer _that_ idea! The Hogwarts Founders were indeed Atlantis Academy graduates, and a little-known fact is that Salazar Slytherin, whose reputation has been quite tarred and feathered and raked through the mud here in Europe, was actually an angel."

"You said seraph before." Harry pointed out. Althea nodded.

"We call them 'celestials' as a general term. They can evolve from any being, including those of completely non-human forms, though it is a common misconception that even the non-humanoid beings look like humans with wings. The evolution is mainly in magic and power, with the addition of wings. Phoenixes are magical birds conected to purity, healing, and life; celestials have a similar connection with Light or Good (nothing is entirely Black and White, you understand, but phoenixes and celestials get pretty close to the Pure Good concept as anything can be). Angels have a single pair of wings, Archangels have two pairs, and Seraphs have three pairs; the number of wings indicates power level. Merlin was an Archangel, for instance, and Salazar Slytherin as I said was an Angel. The Hogwarts wards are as powerful and lasting as they are because of him. And it took two seraphs working together to move Atlantis into another dimension, without killing any beings or creatures, but not cut it off entirely from its home dimension."

Harry nodded and thanked her for the information. Out of the corner of his eye, he caught Luna staring intensely at him, her earlier dreamy expression gone, but it vanished back into the dreamy look as she noticed his glance. They turned their attention back to Althea as she began speaking again.

"Atlantis is home, as I said, to a large variety of creatures and beings -- we in fact classify as beings several which are "creatures" in other places like Britain. All beings, including non-magical humans, are welcome to study at Atlantis Academy and Celeste University. Humans, werewolves (generally called Lycanthropes if born to werewolf/lycan parents), vampires, giants, goblins, dwarves, elves, fae, leprechauns, harpies, brownies (or house-elves), satyrs, veela, nymphs (like dryads and naiads), merfolk, centaurs, sphinxes, and celestials are all classified as Beings in the Atlantis charter. Hags are not included, despite human-level intelligence, because their physiognomy requires them to eat infants and raw liver from other sentient beings without the ability to substitute animals like sheep and cattle."

"What about vampires?" Luna asked.

"Vampires," Althea said, "do not have to kill or Turn in order to drink blood. And many prefer willing blood donors anyway. They can also drink animal blood though it isn't as filling and they'd need greater amounts more often, and still live (or unlive?) just as well. There are those, particularly adult mundanes, who've been Turned and then go insane and bloodthirsty, which happens occasionally with the bitten (as opposed to born) werewolves too. But vampires and werewolves police their own kind. Hags just plain kill beings to eat, so there are none on the Island and our charter does not include them in the Being classification, unlike Britain which includes hags but leaves out centaurs, merfolk, house-elves, and to a large extent werewolves. Harpies, goblins, sphinxes, and other species may have violent tendencies, but can control themselves and interact peacefully – for the most part – with other beings, hence their status as Being in our charter. If you think about it, humans have violent tendencies as well - just look at all the wars we fight, all the criminals and gang activities! No species is a hundred percent perfect.

"Should you become students, you are welcome to choose species-only dorms or inter-species dorms. Most of our students live on Atlantis, but occasionally we find beings on the Outside that not only show above average power levels and gifts, but have the proper attitude to accept going to a school with such a wide variety of species.

"There are a wide variety or magical and non-magical classes, languages, physical training and fighting courses, etc. In fact, we not only have mundane – that is, non-magical – citizens, we can give them a complete non-magical education with some magical history, languages, and theory classes that don't require actually having magic that they can take as well.

"Terms like 'muggle' and 'squib were deemed derogatory a while back, so now non-magical people are called Mundanes, and those born magical to Mundane parents are called Newbloods. What are deemed 'squibs' on the Outside can actually be born to Mundane parents as well; we call them Magic-Locked. This is because they actually have a magic core, just no direct access to it. So they can do passive things, like fly on a broom or use the Floo or make potions, but no spellcasting. Magic-locked people born to mundanes often become psychics, as they can see magical creatures and sometimes have precognition or empathy, or similar powers. There's specialized classes for all these different powers.

"To get along in Atlantis you need to be open-minded. The world is not Black and white, different species have their own ways of doing things or understanding the world, and everyone is welcome to their own opinions, religion, etc as long as you don't break the law - like murder or torture or stealing. You must be able to accept and respect others, to make your own opinions based on your own observations of people instead of mimicing others' prejudices. You have to be able to reach out to new horizons for yourselves, to accept that the world cannot be researched through books alone. And sometimes even observation falls short; you have to actively go search for new things because not everything will come and show itself right in front of you, no matter how long or patiently you wait. Reading is good, believing is great, but exploring and keeping an open mind is sometimes the best way to learn, by discovering things yourself.

"There we are, that's the end of my spiel. Any more questions?" The green-haired woman grinned at them.

Harry and Luna both had a few more. They learned the Academy took students as young as 6 for primary and mostly non-magical classes, began most magical classes at 10, and at the age of 13 they could start choosing electives. Graduation depended on when you felt you had taken all the Academy-level classes you wanted and had passed all the core classes, between the ages of 16 and 20, though average was 18. The University took 4 to 8 years depending on what classes you took and what you wanted to specialize in, and you had to have graduated the Academy, at least passing all the core classes, first. Mostly you stayed with your age group, though there were always a few who were one or two years younger or older, usually those recruited from the Outside.

Luna could claim citizenship for her father by right of family ties (which worked for very close 'like family' friends, godparents, blood-brothers/sisters, adopted family and clan members as well as blood-relatives), just as soon as she became a student and therefore temporary citizen, provided she and her father wanted to claim permanent citizenship and her father passed screening against prejudice (Althea said she was sure he would); this would not negate their British citizenship but would allow them to insist on being handed over to Atlantis officials and justice if they found theirselves persecuted for anything, whether they were innocent or guilty. Not that Althea expected any of them to get arrested, but sometimes these things happened. And yes, Althea read and enjoyed _The Quibbler_ very much.

Harry had, over the last week, gotten a subscription for _The_ _Daily Prophet_ and _The Quibbler_. He'd found the latter to be very much like a tabloid, but had enjoyed it immensely for its entertainment value. Besides, it reminded him to keep an open mind about everything. Just because muggles – er, mundanes, Althea was right 'muggle' did sound derogatory – didn't believe in unicorns and dragons didn't mean they didn't exist; there was always a possibility that there were things out there the majority of the magical world hadn't discovered yet either, and therefore didn't believe in.

Harry told Luna so, and in that instant made a friend for life.

Both children told the Atlantis recruiter they accepted without too much more thinking, and Harry asked if he could claim citizenship immediately. Just in case someone tried to send him back to the Dursleys. Luna said she'd wait on the citizenship and think about it, as she and Daddy were perfectly happy in England for the time being. Mr. Lovegood hugged her goodbye and extracted a promise to write often from her, and extended an invitation to Harry for Yule break. Anyone who could accept his "loony" daughter so quickly and matter-of-factly was alright in his book. Harry gathered his things, enticed Hedwig into her cage with an apology and a promise to let her out as soon as possible, and then they were off.

Althea took the two to the train station, and bought them all three tickets to the south-most coast. As the train started out of the station she began to explain the reason for their non-magical transport. While citizens learned how to get into Atlantis's pocket-dimension by their own means, Harry and Luna needed to be brought in "the long way" and then keyed in with their temporary/permanent citizenship before being taught themselves. Family could visit, but would also have to be brought in. On the coast of southern-most Wales was a gateway setup she would take them through, transporting them straight onto Atlantis. Owl post, Floo, portkeys, and apparition from the Outside didn't make it in, but especially enchanted stationary (like Harry's letter), along with email, telephone, and internet connections worked. She had no idea how the 'technomancers' had managed it though, so she could't give an explanation. They would shop in one of the markets on the Island for school supplies. And stop off at the Academy infirmary to get them both a regular check-up and let the Healers start a medical file for both.

Althea drifted off after a half hour, but Harry and Luna were much too excited to nap and began getting to know each other a little better.

Harry found himself telling Luna about Dudley and Harry-Hunting, about the cupboard under the stairs, and about being kicked out after Hagrid took him shopping for Hogwarts supplies.

A sudden thought hit Harry, "Luna, what about your things? I mean, I have my trunk and all the supplies I bought for Hogwarts with me, but we didn't even stop by your place to pack for you!"

"Oh don't worry Harry. I have everything in my pocket."

"Huh?" Luna's pockets didn't look full at all to him.

"Daddy and I talked things over when I got my letter. Atlantis Academy is a prestigious school, best in the world. Some say Atlantis was even the birthplace of magic! I wanted to go right away, but Daddy convinced me we should meet the recruiter just to be sure. So I packed last night, and Daddy shrunk my trunk down so I could put it in my pocket, and we made a list of questions to ask. But I already had my mind made up, I think Daddy knew that." Luna smiled.

Harry blinked. Hadn't that been about what he did after finding out about Atlantis Academy? Except for the shrinking his trunk thing, Althea had done that for him right before getting to th train station. "And I forgot to ask Althea," he remembered suddenly, "how I got their letter this time when they'd been trying for years. Do you think I ought to write to Hogwarts that I'm not going there after all?"

"Well... did you ever get fanmail?"

"Why would I - oh the whole celebrity thing. No, never."

"Well when you were sent to the Dursleys someone probably put up mail wards then, probably to keep fanmail from bothering you or because Death Eaters were still around and might send cursed mail to hurt you. Maybe the Ministry. And you were at the Leaky Cauldron when you got your letter from Atlantis, instead of your home."

"I suppose that makes sense..."

"You said Hagrid picked you up, right? Did you tell him directly you definitely wanted to go to Hogwarts?"

"Well, no. We both just assumed -"

"And did you send the Headmaster or Deputy Head an acceptance letter?"

"No, Hagrid did that."

"But not you. And that means you didn't really accept. You probably wouldn't have registered as a student until you were actually Sorted. But now we are both students of Atlantis, since we both accepted the offer directly."

"Oh. That makes sense. I guess I'll ask her about sending them a letter when we get off. Well I've told you about me, your turn!"

"It's only fair... When I was seven, Mummy blew herself up experimenting with potions and charms for her job. I was there; I saw. It took a long while to get over it." Luna slowly confessed. She paused a moment before going on. "Ever since then I've been able to see creatures no one else does, and sometimes I just know things. Daddy believes me, and writes about them in his paper, if I can explain them well enough. I used to have a friend, Ginny Weasley, who lives nearby. But after… the accident… when I started to see things, I tried telling her about them. She started calling me "Loony" and teasing me. We haven't really been friends for a while now. It's lonely sometimes. But I have Daddy."

"Is that why you were recruited? Because you see magic creatures others don't?"

"I think so. I think it may have been the charms, or the potion, or maybe both Mummy was working on. I know I got hit with some of it, and spent a whole week in St Mungo's hospital. I think what I have is called 'Second Sight'. I can see auras too, and some creatures look like they are made up of auras and no body, and when no one else can see them and tell me what they are I give them names. That's how I found out about wrackspurts and nargles. I've never seen a Crumple-Horned Snorkak, but Daddy says he found a skeleton in Sweden when he was younger that wasn't too old but wasn't any other magical or non-magical creature he knew or could find out about. So that's what he called it, and he's been trying to find live ones or evidence of extinction ever since. But nobody ever asks about that, they just say Daddy and I are making them up. Or they're the _Quibbler_ fans who believe anything, even the tabloid columns. At least we print disclaimers for the made-up stuff on the last page, unlike the _Daily Prophet_ which is owned by the Ministry and sometimes prints propaganda or cover stories, and recently hired that awful muckraker Skeeter woman."

Luna said this all without her customary dreamy look. Harry was beginning to understand that it was a mask she wore, to hide from the teasing with an uncaring, inattentive attitude. He vowed he'd always listen to her and accept her, even when he didn't quite believe her. She was his first and so far only friend. And that made her the most important person in his life.

* * *

**Author's Note:** Erratic chapter lengths, I know, and next chapter is another short one. You can think of the short ones as interludes maybe. I've hit a stride right now, though I can't guarantee I'll keep updating so quickly. I may burn out and take some weeks or a month off, but I'll try to actually stick with this fic all the way through.


	5. Minnie and Ginny

**_Disclaimer: _**I do not own Harry Potter book series or any recognizable characters or places. Those belong to JKRowling. But I own the enchanted envelope and I'm not afraid to use it!

**Spread Your Wings**

_**By Ebona Nite**_

**Chapter Five: Minnie and Ginny**

_Minnie's p.o.v._

Minerva McGonagall was a very busy woman.

A week ago Hagrid had sent in an owl with a letter saying he'd picked up Harry Potter, and the following day he had returned with praises of how much he looked like his father and acted like his mother. Minerva was grateful of the break from introducing muggleborns to the magical world, she really was, but had Hagrid remembered to give Harry the muggleborn introductory pamphlet that included how to get onto Platform 9¾? Really, that should have been sent with his acceptance letter, but she'd momentarily forgotten he was muggle-raised in the middle of all the letter writing. She never had found out if the pamphlet had made it to Harry, having to rush off to convince two dentist parents that their daughter was a witch and then had forgotten the need to ask the groundskeeper.

In less than two weeks Hogwarts was going to be filled to the brim with students, schedules to write, her first classes to organize, she had three more muggleborns to convince that magic was real and it was a much better idea to come to Hogwarts than to go with untrained magic and thank goodness Pomona Sprout was returning in two days to help her with that, and to top it all off she had just under thirty extremely long essays from overzealous Ravenclaws who had decided to owl in their summer assignments early. Which meant they would want them back, graded, with comments, on the first day of class.

Consequently the Deputy Headmistress's office was piled with papers and she went rushing about harried and stressed. A letter delivered by enchanted envelope was of little attention in the face of all those essays and quickly forgotten.

So Harry Potter's note stating his intention to go to school elsewhere, which Althea had convinced him it was only polite to send the morning after the train ride to Wales, went unread until well after the first week of classes. A week of increasingly panicked rumors and newspaper articles, mostly made up by Rita Skeeter.

Therefore the last two weeks of August held no more stress than was usual for the Deputy Headmistress. Later, she could never quite tell if this was a good thing, since an extra two weeks wouldn't have helped them find the prodigal Boy-Who-Lived, but it certainly kept her stress level down to a manageable amount.

_Ginny's p.o.v.:_

The 10 year old red haired girl named Ginny Weasley watched, half laughing and half crying, as the red steam-engine train the Hogwarts Express pulled out of the station taking the last of her brothers with it.

One more year. One more year until she was on that train, until she would be Sorted into Gryffindor like her whole family before her, until she could make some friends who were not also her brothers.

She used to have a friend. A blonde girl her own age, named Luna, who lived on the other side of the gone-wild apple orchard just outside Ottery St Cathpole where her own home, affectionately called The Burrow, was located. Then when they were seven she did a terrible thing.

Sometimes long friendships could be broken in a single moment, with a single careless word or action, and take years to mend. If they ever did.

Luna had lost her mother when she was seven, and she didn't cope with it too well. And Ginny had her mother's temper and short on patience and was only seven besides. Too young to really understand, especially having never lost family herself. Luna started saying strange things, and Ginny would call her Loony and laugh.

Three years later, Ginny was ashamed of herself.

She hadn't talked much with Luna in those last three years. But maybe it was time to start mending the broken bridges of friendship. Luna was still a bit… well, loony, but she was coherent these days. It would be nice to have her friend back.

The children at Hogwarts next year probably wouldn't understand, like she hadn't understood those three years ago. And she'd been too embarrassed and ashamed of herself, ever since she realized what Luna must be going through and how much more difficult she'd made it for her, to apologize.

Tomorrow, Ginny promised herself. Tomorrow she would walk over to the Lovegoods' Tower and ask to see Luna. And apologize. Maybe by Hogwarts next year they'd be friends again.

But when tomorrow came, Luna was already gone.

* * *

**Author's Note:** Skips ahead two weeks for Ginny's pov. Next chapter will go back to Harry and Luna's arrival at Atlantis and the last two weeks of August.


	6. Through the Gateway

_**Disclaimer:**_ JKRowling owns Harry Potter, not me. I'm just a poor fanfiction writer whose only payment is the reviews this fic gets.

**Spread Your Wings**

_**By Ebona Nite**_

**Chapter Six: Through the Gateway**

The gateway was a large stone arch, looking very much like a Roman ruin. Made of old, worn grey stones and rather crumbly around the edges, it was eight feet high and wide enough for a large carriage to pass through. Harry at first doubted it could do anything. But Althea winked at him, laid her hand on a stone and murmured a phrase too low for either of the children to hear.

And the archway lit up with swirling golden runes.

"Go on through," the green-haired witch told them. They went.

It was like stepping into a fairyland. One moment they were in an overcast Welsh countryside, the next in a beautiful, sunlit park. Flowering bushes and vines lined the path leading away from the archway, trees grew on one side and an open meadow on the other. Small, bright-feathered birds flitted about and sang in the treetops. A few butterflies hovered over wildflowers in the meadow.

Harry and Luna stepped away, and looked back to see the arch made of shining white marble, flecked with gold, the same swirling golden runes glowing as Althea stepped through. Then the runes faded and the gateway was just a pretty white-stone arch.

"Welcome to Atlantis you two! This park is just off a small marketplace. We'll go get your things there, then its over to Atlantis Academy for a check in at the school infirmary and then to the dorms to settle in. Have either of you decided yet whether you want to live in the species-only dorms or inter-species dorms?"

"Inter-species, of course!" Luna piped up. Harry immediately nodded, not wanting to be separated from his friend.

"Okay, that makes it easy! Well, follow me."

They went first to a store for what Althea called "universal language pendants." The pendants, small stones worn as a necklace, were charmed so that everyone on the island could understand each other, even students from different countries on the Outside and merfolk who could not speak human languages (though she said they could speak gobbledygook, the language of the goblins, without too much trouble). Althea warned them that the pendants would not allow them to actually learn other languages; there were classes for that, and she suggested taking one or two. The original inhabitants of the Island had had their own language, though nowadays English was a fairly common second language, and she recommended taking the Lantisian language course.

Next, they went for beginner foci. Atlantis was not so big on wands as England was, apparently. Althea told them that not everyone needed a 'focus' and multiple foci could be owned. A person's focus was not necessarily a wand either; it could also be a rod or staff, a weapon, a ritual dagger called an 'athame', a crystal or gemstone, jewelry, tattoos, or other things. Usually infused with the person's blood so that it would only work for that one person.

University students could also get new custom foci once they decided what they want to specialize in. It was a common occurrence actually, especially after reaching one's magical majority where one's magic finished growing and settled, which might necessitate tweaking of the original foci.

She took them to a street in the marketplace – which seemed to be a small village entirely devoted to shops and restaurants – where practically every shop was for the custom creation of different types of foci. First they went to a small place called Focus Fitting. The man inside – Harry was pretty sure he was an elf, as he had pointy ears – told them he would scan them for what type of beginning focus would fit them best. It would help if they knew what type of activities they enjoyed doing most, whether they wanted to apply this to their education, and if they had any thoughts as to what branches of magic they wanted to study.

Luna told about her love of music, discovering new animals, developing second sight and odd "just knowing" ability, and wanting also to take some healing classes.

"Hm… a rod I think. With maybe a crystal or stone for the Sight. You'll want the wandmaker's, he does rods and staves as well as wands. And how about you, boy?"

"Um… well I like reading and learning… but I don't know about anything else. I do already have a wand, from Ollivander's in London."

"Oh? Well let me see…. 11 inches holly, phoenix feather, you'll want to have this infused with your blood so no one else can use it… something odd about that feather – does this have a brother wand?"

"Yes, the evil wizard who tried to kill me when I was a baby has it." Harry managed this admission in a slightly-frustrated tone.

"Not good. May negate the blood infusion if he tried to use it. Brother wands typically are only made for those with bonds, like twins or soul mates. Then again England doesn't do custom wands… well take this to the wandmaker's and have it infused with your blood. It's an okay beginner's general focus, but come back when you have settled in and decided what type of classes you want to take. A custom will work better for you."

They thanked him and left for the wandmaker's across the street and two shops down. Luna asked if they weren't going to pay him, Althea said all school supplies were charged directly to the student accounts and added into the annual bill.

"Student accounts for those without the ability to pay right away are set up on loans, with a weekly stipend, and after the student is old enough to work they begin paying it off. Academy loans give a 20 year no-interest period from the time of graduation, and I think its about 30 years for a full payback expected, but you can ask the Gringotts account managers. University loans are about the same. Yes Harry?"

"My parents were pretty wealthy, and they had set up for me a trust vault for Hogwarts fees and plenty extra. I can simply have that transferred over."

"And Daddy makes lots of money with his paper, Miss Althea. But I don't know how costly Atlantis is, so can I set up a loan later if I need to."

"Of course! Go into Gringotts and ask about your student account anytime. If you get low the goblins will call you in for a meeting about whether or not you need to set up a loan, so don't worry about getting caught unawares."

Entering the wand shop, the trio spent the next half hour as Luna went through different materials to find those she felt most drawn to. Eventually she came up with a 12 inch unicorn horn, donated after the unicorn's natural death, a small moonstone, and a long golden hair the wandmaker said was from a siren. He gave her a small vial and athame and asked her to fill it with her blood, then told her to return the next day for the completed rod.

Next he checked Harry's wand, took the British Ministry's underage-magic-monitoring charms off, and collected a vial of Harry's blood. The infusion would only take a half hour, he told them, since the wand itself was complete already.

They left for lunch, returning to pick up Harry's wand before completely their shopping.

Harry already had a trunk, but both he and Luna picked up bookbags that were expanded inside and charmed to never be over five pounds no matter how much they put inside. Harry chose a plain black one with emerald-green lining, and Luna chose a light blue one with embroidered daisies. They also picked up multi-compartment trunks that could change into leather suitcases with wheels on one end and a collapsible handle on the other, and were charmed lightweight. Harry chose black oak and Luna chose a light brown wood, and both had them security-lock spelled to themselves.

Althea spent the next three hours bringing them to different shops, where they purchased all their school supplies, including mundane notebooks with lined paper, pencils and pens, and stopped in the bookshop for maps of the Island and some introductory books on Atlantis, history, magical theory, and books for the beginning magical and non-magical core classes they were required to take. There were a week and a half before classes started, plenty of time to review anything they wanted, come back to shop for anything extra

And of course, lot and lots of new clothing for Harry. Althea commanded him to burn the oversized rags he was wearing, first chance he got.

Then it was dinnertime, and then off to the Academy itself. Time to check in at the infirmary, and then settle in their dorms.

The Healers pronounced Luna fit as a fiddle in five minutes flat.

Luna dreamily told them she was impressed the alliterative action and garnered some bewildered stares.

Then it was Harry's turn. Naturally his exam took longer.

He was given a dose of nutrient potions and told to take one with his meals three times a day for the next month. This would counter the malnutrition. Hopefully his eyesight would be improved, though they could not guarantee perfect sight. They did give him the address and directions to an 'ocularist', who specialized in enchanted glasses that would self-adjust to changing prescriptions and could have additional charms provided he was willing to pay extra.

The real kicker was when they insisted he stay overnight so they could safely remove a horcrux from his scar and monitor his health for a few hours afterward. Of course they then had to tell Harry what a horcrux was. And then calm him down when he began hyperventilating.

"WHAT DO YOU MEAN I HAVE A BLOODY PIECE OF SOMEBODY ELSE'S DIRTY SOUL IN MY HEAD?!"

The calming him down part was what was taking so long.

Eventually Luna offered to sit on his head if he didn't shut up and calm down. Amazingly this 'offer' worked better than the threat of calming draught being forced down his throat.

The removal of the horcrux took longer than Harry expected. An hour was spent locating a soul magic expert to help, then the actual cleansing ritual took another hour, and was painful. But it was successful. Harry passed out soon afterward.

And so, Harry passed his first, rather stressful, night on Atlantis in the Infirmary while Luna got to explore her dorm and meet a few other early first year students.

* * *

**Author's Note:** Just a reminder to all that Harry is only 11 and Luna is only 10. They are allowed their bouts of immaturity, it comes with their age. Like not wanting to inform Hogwars Harry isn't going in revenge for setting up mail wards and not telling him. Anyway, last chapter we got to see a perspective of events from other people. Harry and Luna have one view of things, like Harry's mail wards and the uninformative Hogwarts letter, and Luna's loss of friendship with Ginny, but as you can see they don't have all the information. Gives things an extra dimension, and you can bet I'll exploit that later!


	7. Settling In

**_Disclaimer:_** I own nothing. I'm broke. I don't even have lemon drops. Please don't sue!

**Spread Your Wings**

_**By Ebona Nite**_

**Chapter Seven: Settling In**

Harry was finally released from the Infirmary in the morning with a fading headache and firm instructions to drink a nutrient potion with each major meal. He just as firmly refused to eat the hospital food for breakfast and took his morning dose with him to find Luna and something that didn't taste like cardboard.

The dreamy-eyed blonde met him outside the door with a centaur in tow.

"Good morning Harry! This is Amber Oakensdaughter, she's from America. Amber, this Harry Potter, my friend I've been telling you about."

"Er, hello."

"Nice ta meetcha Harry!" If Harry had known the differences between American dialects, he would have caught the Texas twang in her voice.

Amber was small as centaurs go, though her head was still nearly two feet above their's. Her equine half was along the lines of an Arabian, with chestnut brown coat and tail, and a faint dusting of white speckles on her flanks. Her human half had long matching chestnut hair and fair skin but with so many freckles she looked light brown with pale speckles, similar to her horse-half. She had twinkling hazel eyes and a wide cheery grin.

Centaurs typically wore no clothing even on their human half, but Amber wore a short olive green cargo-style vest. She said it was because she "liked the pockets."

The Infirmary was a building on the Academy's main campus. The dorms were spread out around the periphery of the campus. Harry and Luna were given rooms in the Inter-Species Dorm 7, or ISD-7. Someone had spray-painted "Thunderbirds" and a black-and-gold stylized bird, in traditional Native American style, on the front side of the building that housed the humanoid species students of the ISD-7. Apparently this was their unofficial dorm name, and probably their dorm's intramural sports teams' designation and mascot too.

Harry found his room easily enough, his name printed on a brass plate on the door and his trunks and things already inside. Everyone had their own room, locked to magical signature. Or stall, in the case of centaurs, with attached field. Or large cave in a cavernous hillside next to the field for the sphinxes. The merfolk in their dorm area had a pond with flooded underground caverns beneath the hill and field carved out. Being an inter-species dorm, the building for the human and humanoid students was surrounded by natural habitats for the non-humanoid students. It was actually quite beautiful, Harry thought.

The building was in front, with the centaurs' stable and field towards the left. There were three centaurs, including Amber. The hill, rather more like a mound, with carved out caves for the two sphinxes in their dorm was around the back, the large pond for the eight merfolk and one naiad to the right of the building. A low fence marked the perimeter. Most non-human students preferred same-species dorms, so the rest of their dormmates were mostly humans, werewolves, and vampires, along two veela, on the first and second floors, four goblins in the basement level rooms, and a harpy and two brownies (who insisted on being allowed to do general house-cleaning, though they promised to leave personal rooms alone; Luna said they were called 'house-elves' in Europe and their magic derived mainly from housekeeping) in the attic rooms. There were no fae, elves, dwarves, leprechauns, giants, satyrs, or nymphs (other than the naiad) in the Thunderbirds dorm though. Altogether, there would be about 50 students of various species in ISD-7, the humanoid species making just over half of their group, once everyone had arrived.

Harry's next door neighbor was a vampire, from a clan that lived on Atlantis. He was tall and pale with sharp and aristocratic features, and had straight black hair and dark blue eyes. He introduced himself in a soft, smooth voice as Orlando Araceli, and offered to show the other three around.

Their first stop was the cafeteria for breakfast. Harry took his nutrient potion with a grimace; it tasted like stale unsalted peanuts. And cardboard. Why did everything healthy from hospitals taste like cardboard? Blech!

Orlando had bacon and eggs and buttered toast, along with a goblet of cow's blood. Harry and Luna learned from him that born vampires, which was what Orlando was, as opposed to Turned vampires could eat human food and stay in the sunlight for a few hours without repercussions (Orlando had an amulet that would allow him to stay out the whole day for classes, though he preferred being indoors for those times as his eyes were still sensitive to strong light). His canines were only slightly pointed, hardly noticeable, unless he lengthened them to feed. He did still need blood, just no where near as much as Turned vampires, who could not stomach much human food and consequently needed to get more of their nutrients from drinking blood.

Amber chose multi-grain pancakes for her breakfast. A lot of pancakes. Her stack was almost a foot tall! Centaurs, she told them, ate a combination of human and horse food, though they were vegetarians, since they had a separate stomach in both halves and had to keep both filled. Things like baked oat-and-honey cakes and multi-grain pancakes were great since they filled both stomachs at once, instead of eating separate portions. Besides, she was addicted to pancakes slathered with berry jam.

After breakfast Orlando led them back to the wand shop, where Luna picked up her finished focus rod. It was beautiful, a 12 inch pearly spiraling unicorn's horn with a tiny moonstone focus stone tip, a handle of carved silver birch holding the wide end of the alicorn and fitted to her hand. Luna's blood and the siren's hair as its core. The wandmaker told her it was good for bardcraft, divination spells and rituals, and healing.

Neither vampire nor centaur needed a focus at this point, and Harry was still sticking with his first wand.

Next on the agenda was the ocularist the Healers insisted Harry see.

Harry eventually picked out a stylish pair of glasses with oval lenses and thin white-gold wire frames. They were charmed unbreakable, water-repellent, and anti-fog as a matter of course. The note from the Healers allowed them to be charged against his medical portion of his student account, though Harry chose to pay 15 galleons extra out-of-pocket for an additional anti-summoning charm.

He decided to forego any other additions, at least for now. While the ability to see auras or wards or through invisibility spells sounded interesting, he'd rather learn how to do that on his own, if it was possible, so he could turn the ability on and off and not have to walk around seeing nimbuses of colors everywhere.

That last week and a half before classes was an enjoyable and enlightening experience for one Harry Potter. More and more students arrived, of varying species, and Harry was learning more than he'd ever imagined was in the world. And he had friends. That was perhaps the biggest change for him. He'd always known he was different from his mundane relatives… but he'd never had friends before.

Now he had Luna, the centaur Amber, the vampire Orlando, and the werewolf Chad. Chad had arrived from Australia a few days after Harry and Luna.

His full name was Chad Tyson of the Red-Coolibah Pack.

Of course Amber just had to ask, "What's a Coolibah?"

"Eucalyptus tree that grows near a billabong… and a billabong is a cutoff riverbend that's like a lake. Sheesh, do I have to tell you everything?"

"Yes. Especially about the soil. And the rocks. And the plants. And the trees."

Which was how they learned that Amber wanted to be a geologist and a herbologist. This got her teased by more star-minded centaurs, but made her much more interesting to the group.

Chad had sandy brown hair, blue-and-amber eyes, a tan, and an out-going attitude. He made it his mission to get Harry up to date about werewolves.

"It's not 'werewolf' unless you're bitten, mate. If you're born, like me, you're a lycanthrope. I mean, there's so much difference! Werewolves, they transform in the light of a full moon. That's it. And a lot a them don't accept the wolf, try fightin' it off, makes 'em crazy. The wolf side, that is. So the wolf side's trying to hurt 'em back when they transform. Lotsa them don't live too many years, tearin' themselves apart.

"Now if they can learn to accept the wolf, then they won't have all the pain and a lot more control when transformed; even if the wolf instincts take over they don't go crazy murderous. And that wolfsbane potion! Poison! Crikey, I tell ya mate, whoever made that had a real grudge against werewolves. Gives 'em their mind back, sure, but slowly poisons them. Couple years takin' it and suddenly the wolf's gettin' too sick, and starts to affect the human body, and then a few more months an' you're gone. And take it more'n twice in a row an' you get addicted too, makes for horrible withdrawal.

"Lycanthropes are born with the gift though, and it ain't a curse for us. We have just one mind to deal with, wolf instincts and human instincts all meshed together. We can transform anytime, and have a hybrid form, though we gotta stay all-wolf under the full moon. The wolf's just part of us, yeah? No curse about it."

Chad was the chatty and rambunctious one, as opposed to Orlando's quiet nature. Oddly, the two got along just fine.

So while Amber had dibs on the ground and growing things, Chad got caught up in sports, Luna named the creatures only she could see, and Orlando carved his niche out by being the quiet bookworm of the group, not to mention the designated tour guide while the others got used to the Island, Harry watched and learned and wondered what he'd be good at. He was quickly learning that stereotypes were a sure way to get something wrong. None of his new friends were at all close to what he had thought centaurs, werewolves, vampires, or even witches would be.

He was still waiting to find out what his own niche would be. He didn't feel very wizardy. But perhaps that was not such a bad thing after all. Here he had no pre-conceived notions about the Boy-Who-Lived nonsense to try and live up to, no one would stare at his scar, and there were so many choices he was free, at last, to make!

The five were fast becoming an inseparable group. Classes were just around the corner. And best of all, Harry never had to return to the Dursleys!

* * *

**Author's Note: **I'm not the best at writing accents, especially when they aren't ones I hear too often. So you'll just have to imagine Harry and Luna with British accents, Amber with Texas-American accent, and Chad with an Australian accent (he probably sounds more American from my writing, oops). And I'm American myself, so British and Australian slang, idiosyncrasies, and general ways of talking are not my forte. So if I mess up something in they way they are talking that doesn't sound like it comes from their part of the world… blame it on the universal language pendants.


	8. Hogwarts Circus Center Ring

_**Disclaimer: **_Pity me, I am poor! This fanfiction is for entertainment purposes only. JKRowling owns Harry Potter.

**Spread Your Wings**

_**By Ebona Nite**_

**Chapter Eight: Hogwarts Circus Center Ring**

The week following Harry Potter's lack of appearance at the Sorting Feast was quite hectic.

Rita Skeeter wrote increasingly outrageous rumors and gossip thinly disguised as news articles, only inciting further panic in the minds of wizards and witches everywhere. Or at least, of wizards and witches in the UK, but they tended to ignore the rest of the world as inferior and silly, so in her mind it was everywhere.

Minister of Magic Cornelius Fudge got wind of the Boy-Who-Lived's disappearing act when children of Ministry workers wrote home about it and their parents, aurors and officials and secretaries alike, began to gossip about it. He blustered about and held press conferences about how he was doing "everything I can" to find Harry Potter and "bring him home." The actual work was delegated to an auror team led by Kingsley Shacklebolt and including his first-year auror trainee Nymphadora Tonks. Naturally none of them had the first clue where to start, so nothing much got done for a whole week before someone suggested asking Albus Dumbledore if he knew were Harry Potter lived.

In the meantime, Albus Dumbledore finally checked up on the Dursleys. A horrible history of neglect, starvation, the cupboard under the stairs as a 'bedroom', mental and emotional abuse (thankfully little in the way of physical abuse beyond the malnutrition), and finally abandonment were spilled thanks to a few well-placed truth spells and a babble hex. Minerva McGonagall got to say "I told you so" in an infuriated tone and wouldn't speak to him except in school-related matters for a week. Dumbledore began to feel his age. How could people treat _family_ the way the Dursleys did? Family was supposed to mean love and support! And yet, they had abandoned their nephew in the middle of London after ten years of hatred and scorn. Now he could be anywhere, any thing might have happened to him... and it was all his fault for leaving him at 4 Privet Drive and never checking up on him.

When the aurors finally got a clue and asked him for advice, he sent them to the Leaky Cauldron to question Tom the barkeep and proprietor if he'd seen Harry after his uncle had dropped him off on the muggle side of the pub.

There was no Harry Potter listed in the ledger, but there was a Jimmie Grey who matched his description. Jimmie, Tom said, had left with a green-haired pixie-woman with an American accent early in the month of August after paying for nearly two months residence, and the last Tom had seen of him he'd been discussing the possible whereabouts of Crumple-Horned Snorkaks with the pixie-woman and a small blonde girl with radish earrings and a butterbeer-cap necklace. Tom was immediately discounted as drunk and the Leaky Cauldron lead was declared a dead end.

_The Daily Prophet_ ran article after article transcribing wild rumors about the prodigal hero's abandonment, running away to the circus, kidnappings, going on a world tour with the Weird Sisters, various methods of death, and frequent sightings all across England. The auror team bounced back and forth across the UK like a pinball on speed, trying to follow up on these sightings, as they had nothing else to follow up on. _The Quibbler_ ran an article about how Harry Potter had gone to a school out of the country where he would take non-magical classes to supplement his magical courses and had a better chance of discovering Crumple-Horned Snorkaks, heliopaths, and other creatures extinct or unheard of. They were ignored as ridiculous.

Xenophilius Lovegood had long practice at ignoring those who were contemptuous of him and his paper. So he didn't at all mind being called ridiculous. What mattered was the first letter he had gotten from his beloved daughter Luna, detailing her first couple weeks in Atlantis, Harry, her new friends of various species she was making, Harry, the heliopaths that lived with the salamanders in her dorm's common room's large fireplace, Harry, thank you Daddy for sending her to non-magical primary school down in the village because now she wasn't behind for the non-magical classes she had to take, and Harry. Yes, Mr. Lovegood was very happy for his daughter. This letter was proof that Atlantis was the better choice for her. He was thinking of framing it.

Following the Sorting Feast and an informative letter home, Augusta Longbottom quietly went into hysterics for a day and a half. The she calmed down, thought things over, and sent her grandson a letter congratulating him on his Sorting into Hufflepuff, and informing him that since it seemed he was following in his mother's path instead of his father's, perhaps it was time he got his own wand after all.

She arranged with Professor Sprout to pick Neville up for the afternoon the following Saturday, and Neville soon became the proud owner of an 11inch cherry wood and phoenix feather wand, which worked far better than his father's oak and dragon heart-string had. Augusta took him for ice cream afterwards, in part congratulations and part apology.

Hermione Granger settled into Ravenclaw, very glad the Hat had convinced her that Gryffindor wouldn't suit her. She was already getting teased by Gryffindors, particularly Ron Weasley who was frequently frustrated and embarrassed with his slow progress, and knew this would have upset her much more if they had been her housemates. Besides, she was making friends with two of her roommates, Padma Patil and Lisa Turpin.

Hermione was a muggleborn witch, the daughter of two very practical dentists, and determined to become the best witch the world had seen since Rowena Ravenclaw. Muggle subjects were no longer needed to get ahead in the world, not when magic could do so much more so quickly and easily! So Hermione threw her whole being into studying magic subjects.

Her parents were rather concerned about her complete abandonment of non-magical education, and insisted she take tutoring in math, science, and English courses over the summer. But as their daughter was at a boarding school ten months of the year they could not insist she try keeping up with them over the year. Hermione didn't have time anyway; there was so much to learn about a world she hadn't known existed before!

Ron Weasley was lazy, that was his biggest problem. He wanted to outshine his brothers, but didn't have the initiative to study like Percy or the preference for pranks like Fred and George. Although this may have been because he'd been the victim of Gred and Forge's pranks too many times. But he could play chess, and at least Percy was okay for a game or two now and then, and loved quidditch and spent much time trying to explain the game to Dean Thomas, who kept insisting some muggle sport called football was much better. As if!

Ron came from a large, and financially constrained, pureblood family. He had five older brothers, the prankster prince twins Fred and George, the prefect Percy with his perfect grades, the dragon-tamer trainee Charley who had just graduated Hogwarts and had been star Seeker and Quidditch Captain, and the Gringotts curse-breaker Bill who was in Egypt now and had been Head Boy back when he was in school. There was also his sister Ginny, but she didn't count as competition because she was younger and a girl besides. So Ron had a lot to live up to. His ambition made the Hat consider Slytherin for a moment – oh the horror! –but only a moment, and his laziness saved him. Straight to Gryffindor.

Draco Malfoy quickly found he was not quite the Silver Prince of Slytherin House he'd imagined himself to be. Yet. Most of the upper years ignored him, though because of who his father was at least they were civil even if they didn't fall at his feet and do everything he said. But his fellow first years and one or two second years fell into line nicely. It was a start. He'd get there, right on the top. He'd be there by 5th year, he promised himself. Leader of Slytherin House, Prefect and then Head Boy, Quidditch Team Captain. He was going places. Just as soon as he found his way off these confounded moving staircases in time for Transfiguration.

Pansy Parkinson, already imagining herself as the next Mrs. Malfoy, was the top girl of the first year Slytherins. Blood mattered most in that House, and thank goodness looks were secondary or else Daphne Greengrass might have taken her place as up-and-coming Queen Bee, and Pansy had the oldest bloodline of all the girls. Except Blaise Zabini, who refused to fall into any sort of line anywhere.

Blaise was the daughter and only child of Marissa Zabini and an Italian wizard who had been Marissa's fourth husband. And counting. She had olive skin, long black hair, and deep chocolate-brown eyes. While she got her coloring from her father, whose name she had never bothered to remember, she had gotten the rest of her looks from her mother.

Marissa Zabini was a tall, beautiful, curvaceous, pale woman, known in certain circles as a black widow and as incredibly unlucky with husbands in other circles, and was currently on her seventh husband. So far he'd lasted eighteen months. Probably not for very much longer though. All of her husbands were rich, ensnared, and soon dead. All by accidents, of course. Mr. Sixth Husband was her favorite; he'd lasted a little over two years, had tried at least three times to off her in retaliation and had managed to ward off her own attempts twice before drinking himself to death from the stress. That actually hadn't been her plan at all. Pity such a feisty one lasted so shortly. She had wanted to draw that marriage out for the entertainment, maybe even add a son to her family. He'd had good, rich, pure blood of the French variety, possibly a touch of veela in his ancestry, much more brains than her other husbands excepting the fourth.

Mr. Fourth Husband had lasted longest, a whole four years, and this was because of Blaise. Blaise had actually been rather surprised to learn she'd been planned, as her mother had wanted an heir and thought Mr. Zabini the Fourth to be both intelligent and good looking. Marissa had gotten Number Four to make his then-two-and-a-half-year-old daughter the sole benefactor of his will, and had happily set aside his whole fortune as a "nest-egg" for Blaise after he'd regrettably slipped and fallen down the icy stairs in the front of the mansion the following winter and broken his neck. Except Blaise didn't particularly want to "follow in the family business" such as it were, though she didn't exactly know what she wanted to do when she grew up.

Blaise wondered if her mother would ever be caught; there were plenty of suspicions, but never proof, never anything solid that even Blaise knew, and every death seemed perfectly accidental in a completely new way than before. Not even any patterns. Well, except for the whole accidental-deaths thing. It was so tragic really. She and her mother had a whole wardrobe each of black mourning clothes set aside due to her mother's continuing "bad luck with husbands."

Sometimes the first year Slytherin girl wondered where her mother had trained, and what as, since she wasn't in the Hogwarts yearbooks anywhere.

In the mean time the Ministry and Dumbledore searched frantically for the missing savior. But there was no sign of him. Not in the UK. Increasingly not in Europe. Not even Fawkes, Dumbledore's phoenix familiar, could locate the famous boy with a letter asking his whereabouts. It was as if he'd fallen off the face of the Earth.

In Minerva McGonagall's office a letter sat collecting dust until nearly Halloween.


	9. Atlantis Academy

_**Disclaimer:**__ I do not own Harry Potter characters or book series. Those belong to JKRowling. But I do own my oc's and I'm quite proud of them, so please no kidnapping!_

**Spread Your Wings**

_**By Ebona Nite**_

**Chapter Nine: Atlantis Academy**

Harry groaned as his alarm clock went off. 6:30am was not a time he wanted to get up on a Sunday! It was the one day he had to sleep in. Atlantis Academy had classes Monday through Saturday, starting at 8am and going at least until 3pm. Classes after three, with an hour dinner break at 5pm and another class from 6 to 7pm, were optional. It all depended on how many classes the student wanted to take.

Harry had chosen to take more core classes sooner, though he wasn't taking the after dinner slot, meaning he had 8am to 5pm classes, with only a half hour lunch break and two other 15 minute breaks, from Monday through Saturday. First and second years only had core classes, but could begin adding electives in their third year. And the only class he had relating to magic was magical theory this year, since he was not allowed practical magic classes without at least one year of theory.

Oh well. He was awake now. Sighing, Harry slowly pulled himself out of bed and started getting dressed. He was used t being a morning person anyway, thanks to Aunt Petunia's chore lists, and he knew he could at least count of Chad and Amber being up this early. Maybe they could pull Luna and Orlando out of bed in an hour and play for a while before getting homework done!

The Academy was considered one of the most elite schools in the world. It had non-magical classes along with magical, and students could go to non-magical universities anywhere around the world without having to take any tutoring after seven years at a magic-only school like Hogwarts or Beauxbatons. Salem Institute on the east coast US had a few mundane classes, but students still needed a year or two of home schooling or tutoring before taking their GED. The Academy ensured a secondary/high school education with a separate mundane diploma, which only faked the school's location. On paper, this sounded great. But actually having to take all those classes revealed just why the Academy was not only a prestigious nearly-year-round boarding school, but considered the toughest there was.

Oh there were other elite schools around the world. Several had competition so fierce as to be deadly to up to 30 percent of the student population. Even legal in these schools, especially those with classes for aspiring assassins, blood mages, and necromancers. On the other hand, Atlantis had laws _against_ killing, torture, stealing, and the like. The University was rumored to have courses designed for assassination and espionage, but the students were strictly watched and any majoring in such areas were all but required to go find work on the Outside. Apparently there were, in fact, some who chose to do so, mostly those who had lived on Atlantis but wanted to get Out; they lived and worked on the Outside and only rarely came to visit friends or family. And when they did, they were monitored closely, to make sure they weren't going to start "working" on the Island.

The Island continent of Atlantis had been semi-isolated for thousands of years, and so had developed somewhat differently than the rest of the world. The original Islanders had their own language, Lantisian, and had had to develop the universal language enchantment to beak communication barriers. All religions were tolerated, but the main one for the born Atlantians was something called "The Wheel." It reflected druidic practices, having eight holidays around the year. Harry recognized Yule easily; it was right around Christmas time, and students were given a two week break which encompassed Midwinter Solstice and New Year's Eve. They were given another two week break for Midsummer Solstice, a two day break for Samhain (which covered All Hallow's Eve on October 31 and the Day of the Dead on November 1), and five other short breaks; one day each for the Vernal and Autumnal Equinoxes, May Day (which was called "Beltane" here), another two-day holiday in early February called "Candlemass" for some reason he'd yet to discover, and another one-day holiday in early August which he couldn't remembered the name or reason for. Probably harvest related. Orlando's explanations had been long and rambling, and all Harry could recall at this time was that the Wheel holidays followed the seasons and had something to do with growing and harvesting plants in a cycle. Or something like that.

At any rate, he did remember the Fall Equinox was coming up, and he could use the break from classes. There would be a festival to welcome the Fall, but he'd probably be swamped doing homework.

Oh yes, Atlantis Academy, was tough. Other than those two week breaks in winter and summer the school was year-round. It only started on September 1st rather than earlier in the year to match up with schools on the Outside, so that any students recruited from Outside would not have to leave in the middle of a school year from their primary school.

There had probably been a lot of grumbling about this when that change had first been made, but by now it was just another tradition for the Atlantis citizens.

Harry's Atlantis History class was very interesting. He was learning a lot about the early years just after the Island had been "moved Sideways" right now, and Orlando's lecture about holidays would probably turn up in the class sooner or later, hopefully in a more straightforward format.

He'd learned from listening to his new friends, Orlando and Amber, that Atlantis had had an influx of talented Outsiders from America over the last couple of centuries, so the Islanders had adopted a lot of terms from the US. Football was called soccer, for instance. It was somewhat confusing to the European students.

He was finding the computer and technologies half-year class all Outside students were required to take extremely interesting. Althea had once mentioned "email and internet" as being able to get through the dimensional barriers as opposed to owls. He'd nodded and let it go at the time; Harry had no one in Britain he wanted to get ahold of, so communication hadn't been a point of interest, and Luna had focused most of her questions on the magical creature population.

Now he was learning just how advance the "technomancers" were. Atlantis had developed several terms in its isolation that had little use Outside. An occularist, for example, was what they called someone who made and sold enchanted spectacles (or "glasses," another Americanism), monocles, contact lenses, sunglasses, goggles, and visors. Harry's Aunt Petunia had gone to a drugstore and bought him a pair of specs that hadn't had quite the right prescription but worked well enough, otherwise he would have questioned why the occularist wasn't called an optician. Then again, the healers took care of eyesight along with healing the body, rather than the mundane medical tradition of specializations, so perhaps there weren't any opticians.

Technomancers were another Atlantian specialization that, like occularists, didn't seem to exist elsewhere. They worked with mundane technology and combined it with magic. There were mundane as well as magical technomancers, as there were plenty of work for mechanics and engineers and technicians and even repairmen without the need for magic, or for technology that didn't need to be enchanted until after it was completed in the mundane process.

Some genius technomancers about a decade before had taken the still-developing computers and telephones to the next level. There was an Island-wide connection called "internet" that hooked computers together and allowed electronic mail or "email" to be sent over the connection, computers were smaller, sleeker, and faster, and pocket-sized wireless phones and radios were the norm. And apparently this had all been done without magic. Which seemed like another magic all itself.

There was talk of slowly releasing advancements for computers and phones Outside to get the rest of the world up to date, hopefully others Outside would even develop their own additional advancements with prodding in the right direction. Possibly the world could be connected by internet by the turn of the century!

Right now email could be sent beyond the barriers to a "server" on the Spanish coast where all typed letters were transcribed onto paper, put into envelopes with the address included on the email header, and sent to their recipients that way. It was a long and tiring process, and required the more magical technomancers to set up a way to send the electronic signals beyond the barriers to the server, not to mention including enchanted envelopes so that the mail recipients could actually reply. It was exhaustive and not altogether efficient, but it worked. And nothing is perfect.

Harry had also discovered in the first week of classes, while trying to get the basic magic control exercises from his magical theory class to work, that he was having trouble with his wand. There were simple exercises to do: meditation, finding your magical core, simple spells for levitating, pushing, or pulling and object, color change, or shooting sparks in certain colors or patterns. It was Luna who brought up a solution to his wand troubles when he expressed his inability to find its connection to his core.

"Well Harry, you did have that nasty horcrux removed. And the Focus Fitting person said that brother wands were only supposed to work because of a connection between people…."

"So now that the connection is gone, the wand doesn't recognize me anymore…. Yeah, you're probably right Luna. I'm going to try the exercises again without the wand first. I can go back for a new focus later. We don't actually need one until next year, when we start practical work."

"And don't forget – there are classes on wandless magic too!" Luna giggled. "Maybe you won't need one at all!"

"Nah, that's too much to hope for. I think humans always need one, at least for bigger stuff, and its other beings like brownies and merfolk who don't ever need them."

So Harry went about meditating to find his magic core without his focus. Luna was able t follow her connection to her focus right down in, but it took Harry longer. Still, he felt it was a major accomplishment to be able to do so without guidance from his focus. The holly and phoenix feather wand still worked a little, but it didn't channel his magic very well and he had to concentrate much more than before. In fact, it didn't feel much different from a wandless spell when he tried levitating with his wand, except that it was more distracting to focus on both wand and spell, though a tad less draining.

Oh well. He'd get a custom focus later. Perhaps during Yule break.

* * *

**Author's Note:** I'm sorry this took a while. I had lost my train of thought for a while. Luckily I picked it back up before it got too far away from me! I realize this chapter is pretty short especially considering all the time I had since the last chapter. But it just felt right to end it here. And I know nothing much happens in the chapter, but I wanted to give some more background. Sorry all you people hoping for a long chapter! I hope to get the next chapter out soon, but after that this story will most likely slow down a lot. I have high hopes to finish the fic though!


	10. Halloween At Howarts

_**Disclaimer:**_ I don't own Harry Potter, JKRowling does. This is just a poor unpaid fanfic.

**Spread Your Wings**

_**By Ebona Nite**_

**Chapter Ten: Halloween at Hogwarts**

Minerva McGonagall was not a happy witch.

Her sixth and seventh year Ravenclaws had almost to the man (and woman) turned in their summer assignments weeks early, before classes had even started. And they had all wanted them back, with comments, on the first day just as she had predicted.

Unfortunately all of them seemed to be budding novelists from the lengths of essays she was given. She hadn't assigned over three feet, but finding an assignment under five was almost impossible! She hadn't seen the surface of her desk for a month. It was nearly Halloween now, and she had only just gotten to the last one.

Minerva sighed. It was only two months into the new school year and already she was counting the days until Christmas, and then again until next summer. She needed a vacation. The Bahamas maybe. She picked up the essay, brushing off collected dust.

And blinked blearily down at the dusty and oh-so-innocent envelope addressed to "Hogwarts Deputy Headmistress" that had been hiding under the pile for who knows how long.

The essay could wait.

A half hour later Minerva was sitting in the Headmaster's office with an agitated Albus Dumbledore, an upset Minister of Magic, an excited _Daily Prophet_ reporter, and a team of aurors petitioning for paid vacation for all their troubles impersonating a ping-pong ball across Europe.

It turned out the envelope was a letter from the missing Harry Potter. He had written stating his choice to go to a different school, where he felt he had a larger choice of classes and subjects (which was what had Albus so agitated), had more freedom to remain away from his horrible relatives (after hearing the interrogation results of the Dursleys, she couldn't blame him for that), and where he could learn more about a wider variety of magical beings and creatures (this last part Luna had insisted he add in, and had the reporter up in arms). He didn't say where he was going, or even what country the school was in.

So the Ministry was being forced to call off their search for the Boy Who Lived despite Cornelius Fudge's insistence that he "belongs at Hogwarts – for his own good!" Plus it would be easier for Fudge to get ahold of him, and perhaps some campaign contributions, but he didn't say that out loud. After all, not even the Minister of Magic could dictate where children went to school. And Shacklebolt's auror team could now be taken off the search, but they were insisting on paid vacation for their troubles at following Rita Skeeter's obviously made up "sightings" across Europe at Fudge's insistence, which was upsetting Fudge even more.

Also, somebody owed Xenophilius Lovegood and _The Quibbler_ an apology. Fudge had yet to successfully delegate that task. The _Daily Prophet_ reporter had snuck quietly away before he got roped into that.

Dumbledore was finally able to shove – that is, _encourage_ – everyone out of his office, and summoned a house-elf for tea for himself and his deputy.

"Do you think, Minerva, that there's any possibility –"

"Of getting him to come to Hogwarts? Not this year Albus. It will probably take us at least until next September just to find him, considering how little luck we've had so far."

Dumbledore sighed, "Yes, you're probably right. Well, I'll try sending Fawkes out again." He wrote a short letter, gave it to the phoenix, and watched as his familiar flashed away in a burst of fire. But Fawkes was back trilling sadly within minutes, the note undelivered. No such luck. Dumbledore and McGonagall could only wonder where the boy was, and what had driven him to chose a different school even after shopping for Hogwarts supplies. There were a handful of schools that offered summer housing and a handful more which were year-round. Many of those… did not have the nicest of reputations.

But they could do no more than send letters asking about the last Potter, and any replies were always negative.

Soon enough it was Halloween.

It was a typical day for Hogwarts, but a not so typical evening. Right in the middle of the Halloween feast, the Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher, Professor Quirrel, came running in shouting about a troll in the dungeons. The students were sent to their dorms and the teachers hurried off to search for the beast.

Down in the dungeons, the Slytherins found it. Or rather, it found them.

Luckily the prefects and most of the upper years kept their heads, shoving the younger years behind them. Half set up shields to protect their housemates, the other half began shooting spells. Within minutes the troll was subdued. One 5th year prefect had a broken arm from the troll's club, but everyone else was fine.

Blaise Zabini allowed herself to be ushered into the Slytherin common room while the injured prefect and his friend headed for the infirmary and two more prefects headed for the Great Hall to find a teacher. Most of the rest of the upper years remained in the hallway, making sure the troll stayed unconscious.

A troll in Hogwarts, thought the safest place in Britain after Gringotts bank, was not a good sign of things to come. Her mother was going to be extremely upset when she heard about this. Blaise went up to her dorm to find the enchanted stationary her mother insisted she keep for emergency messages, for when she couldn't find an owl or get to the owlery. The paper would send any message written on it directly to her mother's paper, and receive any reply her mother sent. Blaise had no idea where her mother had gotten it, since she had never heard of such stationary existing elsewhere, but she was glad she had it now.

Later that evening, Hermione Granger and Lisa Turpin came out the second floor girl's lavatory. Hermione had spent most of the day crying in there after Ron Weasley had insulted her for trying, in her own bossy way, to help him with the levitation charm in Charms class. When she hadn't shown up for the feast, Lisa had gone to help her calm down.

They emerged into a deserted school.

There was no one in the hallways, no sounds of festivities… even the Great Hall, usually open to midnight for the Halloween feast, was empty. The food and deserts and candies were still on the tables.

Wondering if they'd been thrown into the Twilight Zone, the two muggleborn first years quickly headed for the Ravenclaw common room.

They weren't quite fast enough. A limping Professor Snape caught them one hallway away and took 50 points each for beings outside their dorms after ordered not to stray – he didn't say why or let them explain they hadn't heard – and gave them both detention. It was nearly an hour before they were able to calm down, and then calm their over-excited housemates down, so they could get an explanation as to why they'd been put under a lockdown three hours before the usual curfew.

It was a miserable ending to a usually happy, though over-commercialized, day.

* * *

**Author's Note:** One thing I forgot in my note last chapter, was to comment on elite-Academy vs deadly-Academy. There are some fanfics out there where Harry goes to a school that is elite, tough, has tons of classes, and kills off a lot of the students through lethal competition and sabotage and just plain risky classes. And a lot of those are very well written and interesting too! But I didn't want to go that route, instead I'm trying something a little different.

Atlantis may have some University graduates that have been taught to be assassins, spies, and other deadly professions (in fact, there's a big reason I included this, as you will see later) but murder, torture, spying, stealing, and things like that are not only illegal in the schools but over the whole Island as well. So those people live and work Outside.

Hopefully I explained that part well enough last chapter, but I wanted to include why I made that part of Atlantis. They are an isolated community, with limited citizenry (though a tiny few Outsiders either become students and then citizens or marry citizens), and their community is based on interspecies relations. Assassins and the like would disrupt that. That won't stop people from becoming these things but they are pretty much ordered off the Island if they do. Not as deadly for Harry. Just a stressful amount of classes.

Also people may be wondering why the Academy gets 2 weeks off for Midsummer, which is in June, but doesn't pick up again until September for the next school year, and how Harry and Luna have two weeks at the end of August to settle in as other arrive. I did have Harry mention last chapter that Orlando rambled quite a bit and his Atlantis history class would get around to that subject. I promise to explain better in a later chapter.


	11. Finishing Out the Year

_**Disclaimer:**_ Harry Potter book series and characters belong to JKRowling. This is just a fanfic for entertainment purposes only.

**Spread Your Wings**

_**By Ebona Nite**_

**Chapter Eleven: Finishing Out the Year**

_April 30, 1992: Atlantis Academy, Main Courtyard:_

It was Walpurgis Night. Also known as Bonfire Night. Time for laying to rest the old and welcoming the new. Time for fire, for light in the darkness, for purification. For toasted marshmallows and s'mores and campfire songs. And, if they were lucky, for hot-coal-walkers.

Harry, Orlando, and Chad stood in front of a massive bonfire, set up in the middle of the Academy's largest student commons that was called the 'Main Courtyard', ready for toasting marshmallows. Chad had the marshmallows and chocolate, though Harry and Orlando had to keep the werewolf from indulging his sweet-tooth too soon. Now all they needed was for the girls to show up with the graham crackers.

Other students and some of the staff were gathered around, toasting their own marshmallows or hot dogs or buttered cobs of corn, passing snacks, throwing the occasional wreath, wish, or something representative of what they wanted changed or purified into the bonfire, and just generally socializing.

Amber trotted up, and Luna slid down off her back. The appaloosa centaur wore her usual vest with the pockets stuffed full of extra graham crackers for herself, and carried two boxes of them for the friends' s'mores.

Luna was carrying a large wad of grey cloth, which she shoved into Harry's hands.

"Here you go. Put them in the bonfire. Go on."

"Luna… aren't these my old cast-offs?"

"Yes. Burn them in effigy, Harry!"

"Effigy of what?"

"Freedom!"

He laughed. "Well, Althea did say I had to burn them after she bought me all those clothes, so…." Dudley's cast-offs went up in flames. His friends cheered.

Those were the best toasted marshmallows Harry had ever had.

_May 1, 1992: Atlantis Academy, Thunderbirds dorm:_

They may have been allowed to stay up all night, but that would have made them too tired to attend the Beltane festival the next day. So the five stayed up to midnight, and went to bed after that.

The next day was May 1st, also known as May Day and Beltane. It was the festival to welcome Spring into the year, a time to pray for healthy birthings and happy weddings. It was also Luna's birthday, as she casually announced at breakfast while opening the birthday card her daddy had sent her.

Amber perked up. "Your birthday? Well why didn't ya say somethin' sooner darlin'? We woulda gotten ya presents. Happy birthday honey!"

"Yeah, happy birthday Sheila! Warn a guy next time… er, would this be a bad time to hint my birthday's – mmf!"

"Quiet dingo-boy, we can all exchange birth dates another time." Amber grimaced and removed her hand from Chad's mouth. "Eeew! No licking!"

Orlando rolled his eyes as the two began a round of insults and offered his birthday wishes to Luna as well.

Harry, having gotten her birthday during their chat on the train ride to Wales back in August, was more prepared.

Hagrid had gotten him his beautiful snowy owl as a gift, and Harry, who'd never had friends before, had immediately taken to her, talking to her as if she could understand rather than just using her as a post owl. So Hedwig had begun forming a small bond with him, not quite to the level of a familiar but enough to leak magic into her and develop her intelligence and big-sisterly personality further. She was his friend, and ever since Harry had made friends with Luna had treated the blonde girl as her human as much as she considered Harry hers. Plus, she got more bacon at breakfast that way.

Hedwig had willingly donated two of her soft white feathers for Luna's present. Harry had taken them to a jeweler's and had them made into earrings.

Luna unwrapped the sparkly blue paper, opened the box, and gasped in delight. "Oh, they're beautiful! Are these Hedwig's?"

"Yup! It's a present from both of us. Isn't that right girl?" "_Hoot_." The snowy owl looked pleased with Luna's delight. Luna immediately took out the radish earrings and replaced them with the feather earrings. She hugged Harry, who blushed, and reached over to pet Hedwig who accepted the scratching with pleasure. "Thank you both, so much!"

"We have a whole day off for Beltane," Orlando reminded them, "And there's the Spring festival. I vote Luna chooses what to do today. I can play tour guide again. May I suggest the Arts and Crafts Faire? There's plenty to browse and shop, and booths set up for making your own flower garlands and wreaths, or different painting or crafts to try out."

Breakfast was finished quickly after the vampire's announcement, and the group went off to have fun.

_June, Hogwarts Great Hall:_

Whispers ran rampant around the Great Hall.

Professor Quirrel was dead, though the circumstances of his death were unknown. After the Halloween troll incident, however, there was a fair amount of contempt hovering about the Defense Against the Dark Arts professor's inability to defend against the dark arts, or trolls which were supposed to be his specialty, and there was more fear over whether or not what killed him would harm others than the fact that he was killed in the first place.

At the head table, Headmaster Dumbledore tried not to wince at the different rumors flying about. Quirrel it turned out had been playing host to the spirit of Voldemort. Dumbledore had hidden Nicholas Flamel's philosopher's stone in the Mirror of Erised to get it away from the dark lord's grasp, but because the majority of the wizarding world believed the evil man dead he could only ask his teachers to put up extra protections without warning them of how dire those protections should be. Of course now Minerva, one of the few who knew the truth along with Severus, was about ready to rip off his head for hiding such tantalizing dark lord bait in a school full of children.

Quirrel had managed to get passed all the obstacles except the last, and Dumbledore had caught the man standing in front of the Mirror ranting at it. Voldemort's hasty retreat, after a short duel and the Headmaster's disarming spell, had burnt his host to ashes.

Dumbledore had had to report Quirrel's death as caused by a failed dark curse turned back on him when he'd tried to curse the Headmaster, who admitted to disarming him. The investigating aurors cleared him and decided the story checked out after using _priori incantatem_ on both wands, finding Dumbledore's _expelliarmus_ and nothing else (to the Minister's not-quite-secret frustration); they also found a number of dark and illegal curses on Quirrel's wand which backed up Dumbledore's story. This of course did nothing to dispel the rumors, and the article the _Daily Prophet_ ran the next day only made them worse.

It was now Severus Snape's turn to tell him "I told you so" after warning him repeatedly throughout the year that there was something disturbingly off about the turbaned man.

Blaise was now seriously wondering at her chances of her mother allowing her to return to Hogwarts the next year. First a troll, now the DADA professor goes nuts, attacks the Headmaster, and is incinerated. Bloody great. Oh and there was that one time that Weasley and Finnegan were caught in the owlery with a baby dragon that the groundskeeper had hatched; the two along with Malfoy (who had also been out of bounds after spying on the Gryffindorks and had stupidly immediately gone for a teacher instead of waiting until morning when he wouldn't be caught out after curfew with the excuse that he'd overheard the talking about it) had been sent into the Forbidden Forest in the middle of the night as punishment, and had come back babbling about vampire wraiths drinking unicorn blood. What kind of insane teachers sent first year students on dangerous scouting missions in the Forbidden Forest in the middle of the night?!

Not like she was making friends though; she couldn't stand her fellow Slytherins and the other three Houses couldn't stand her _because_ she was a Slytherin. She as already garnering the nickname "Slytherin's Ice Princess." By the time she was ready to date she'd probably be avoided on principle alone.

Draco was also having a bad year. Although Quirrel killing himself was just plain pathetic. Please, Dumbledore was a muggle-loving old coot that needed to be taken out, but the stuttering fool of a DADA professor was no dark lord. Come to think of his, hadn't his father mentioned something over Christmas about the Dark Lord and plans for next year? Wonderful! Maybe someone appropriately Slytherin could handle the job better! Next year should be fun. He was ever so glad his father had talked his mother out of sending him to Durmstrang, although the education may have been better. It was much easier to find followers here at Hogwarts; at Durmstrang there would have been more competition. The first year and second year Slytherins were finally starting to fall in line. Good.

Reactions among the Gryffindors was mostly of awe for the Headmaster. Quirrel, Ron thought, was obviously an evil slimy snake. Worse than Malfoy. Who else would attack such a good, powerful, Light wizard like Dumbledore if not a Slytherin? And Dumbledore out-dueling him was a given of course. No one could beat the great Albus Dumbledore!

Such was the consensus among most of the Gryffindors. Although the twins Fred and George Weasley were of the opinion that Quirrel had actually been a Hufflepuff with delusions of grandeur. If he'd been a Slytherin he would have been better as DADA, not to mention dark curses.

The Ravenclaws on the other hand tended to focus more of their whispers in contemplating the grand duel that Dumbledore must have fought. What spells were used? How long did the duel last? What curse did Quirrel attempt, how did it rebound on him, and what produced the self-combustion?

Hermione Granger particularly wanted to know how the Headmaster had allowed a man like that to slip in under the radar, as it were, and become a teacher. Or how the man had managed to act like a stuttering incompetent coward all the year and then suddenly become a dark wizard intent of stealing the Philosopher's Stone. Yes, Hermione knew about that little item. Hagrid had let a few things slip, she'd been stuck running from Filch one evening with Ron Weasley and Dean Thomas and saw the three headed dog standing over a trapdoor, had done some research (of course!), and put all the puzzle pieces together.

At least she had only been caught out of bounds once, after the troll incident, and that was totally unfounded as it hadn't even been regular curfew yet.

The Hufflepuffs were just plain terrified. The rumor mill had hit them the worst, with the presence of Fluffy thrown into the confusion. None of the 'puffs were quite sure what to make of Quirrel's death, and were far more concerned about the giant three headed dog that had been housed in their school all year. What if it had escaped and eaten people? What if Quirrel had really been eaten? What if Dumbledore was just covering up the professor's death by dog snack by calling him a dark wizard, taking glory for himself? What if the Headmaster was a dark wizard wanting glory for himself building an army of giant three headed dogs to eat his enemies?

Hufflepuff, the house of the conspiracy theorists. At this rate they'd all die of heart attacks by the time they graduated.

Neville was not amused. Some of his fellow 'puffs were getting their gossip really out of hand. Maybe he should have begged the Hat to put him in Gryffindor after all; they seemed much calmer over there!

_Back with the Atlantis crew:_

As it turned out, Midsummer break was not two weeks but one, and the second week-long break in summer was at the end of August just before the next school year started. Orlando's explanation of the holidays had been rather confusing. What made it worse was that most of them used the Gaelic names, like Beltane and Yule, but the August 1st harvest festival had changed its name from the Gaelic "Lughnasadh" to the Christian "Lammas" purely because many people mangled the pronunciation of the Gaelic name and "Lammas" was both easier to pronounce and remember; on top of that the February 1st festival's Gaelic name "Imbolc" had changed to "Candlemass" almost identical in pronunciation to the Christian "Candlemas" celebration on February 2nd; whether the name had come from the Christian holiday despite having nothing to do with that religion, or whether it was mere coincidence since Atlantis celebrated with a plethora of lit candles (to bid winter farewell and welcome back the light of spring), Harry didn't know.

Harry remained on the Island for Midsummer, hanging out with Orlando and Chad. Amber had gone home to her herd in Texas for the week and Luna was in Sweden with her father, tracking Crumple-Horned Snorkaks. She promised to bring him back pictures.

He and Chad spent most of the time flying, the Australian werewolf introducing him to Quidditch and Quodpot. Harry loved every minute of it.

Orlando, meanwhile, was trying to read The Lord of the Rings trilogy straight through. He did manage to hook Harry on The Hobbit by the end of the week, though the raven-haired boy wasn't as voracious or fast a reader as the vampire. Harry still spent more of his time flying or playing football – that is, "soccer" as it was called there – with Chad, and reveling in the freedom of flying and running about without being chased by his bully of a cousin.

Harry had never been allowed fantasy novels by his relatives, and had spent most of the times he hid in the school library studying, trying to teach himself Latin, and looking through travel brochures rather than reading fairytales and fiction.

Midsummer break passed quite enjoyably for Harry and his four friends. Luna returned with pictures of Sweden landscapes including some trees with bowtruckle communities in them. Though they hadn't found the evasive creature she and her father had been searching for, she gushed about having a wonderful time just hiking and sightseeing.

Amber came back from Texas wearing a brown suede cowboy hat, and got teased by Chad for "trying to transfigure yourself from a horse-girl into a cow-girl." She tossed him into the dorm merfolk's pond for the poor attempt at a joke.

Then school started up again for the remainder of the summer months. Chad griped some about having to spend summer in classes.

"Hey, you knew this school was year-round and you chose to come here you know!"

"Shut it Orlando! I know the education's the best, but I can't help wanting to laze in the sun, or go swimming, or something. Just look out there, it's a perfect summer day and we're stuck in _math class_!"

Harry rolled his eyes, "You just don't like math."

"Darn right. Anyway, you don't like it either so why are you so happy?"

"I don't have to go back to my relatives, that's why. I almost went to Hogwarts, and they let out in late June for summer until September 1st. Summer would have been torture, and now I get to expand my horizons instead!"

"You're all weirdos." Chad grumbled while Luna and Amber giggled in the background.

_xXxXxXx_

It was getting late into July now, and Harry's troubles with his wand were becoming more apparent. Ever since the removal of the horcrux in his scar he just didn't have the connection to his wand that he'd had before. In fact, the infusion of his own blood was probably the only reason he could channel his magic through it now at all.

Finally he made up his mind to go back to the focus makers and have a custom made. Lammas was coming up, and since it was landing on a Saturday he'd have a two-day weekend. Plenty of time to get a new focus.

August 1st came, and Harry headed back to Focus Fitting. The elf behind the counter greeted him. "I'd been expecting you back sooner, Mr. Potter."

"Yeah, well I figured since I only had magic theory this year I didn't need to come back immediately…. Did you know about the horcrux too?"

"No, but I didn't think the malicious connection would last, or perhaps might inhibit your channeling of magic through that wand. Now, are you ready to find out what will work best to focus your magic?"

"Yes sir." Harry closed his eyes and fell into a light meditative trance, quickly finding his core as he'd been taught.

"Hm… a strong connection to the element of wind. Feathers certainly, to start out with. A metamorphic talent, so I think jewelry might work best –"

"Meta-what?"

"Metamorphic. Shape-shifting. You are a metamorphmagus, though the potential is small. Have you ever changed your eye color or hair length or color? The ability seems mostly dormant in you, yet it seems to have been activated once."

"Ah… I did make my hair grow back overnight when I was five…. How do you know all this anyway?"

"It is my gift. My talent. To look into another's magic and see their talents, potentials, and elemental alignment. This is why I set up this shop; before, those seeking a focus would have to go from place to place, seeking what type of focus called to them most, and then having to find the objects which resonated with their magic best that would go into the creation of their focus. I am able to see what type of focus, be it wand, rod, weapon, jewelry, or even tattoo, would focus and channel their magic the best, and at times I am even able to offer direction for the objects that might work, such as unicorn hair or phoenix feather or the like. This cuts down considerable time people spend as well as lessens the traffic of those "just browsing" through the shops.

"As I said, for you I believe something with feathers as perhaps an earring or hair clasp would work best. I cannot say what type of feathers though. The jeweler's down the street can create such a focus for you."

Harry thanked the man, signed the receipt for the fee to be taken out of his student account, and headed for the jeweler's deep in thought.

There, he spent more time than he thought he would trying to find the ingredients for his focus. He did pull out a vial of phoenix tears, and another of blood from an opaleye dragon, and decided that white gold for the clasp felt best, but found no feathers that resonated strongly with his magic.

Then Hedwig flew in the open window and landed on his shoulder, as if she'd been called.

A short time later it was decided: two false primaries, one from each wing, and a tail feather, offered by Hedwig, would be soaked in the phoenix tears, then have their tips dipped in the red-black dragon blood. The quills would then have his blood drawn into the shafts and the white gold would tip the quills and bind them to the clasp. The focus maker offered Harry the choice of earring or hair clasp, and after some meditative contemplation, Harry chose the air clasp.

And so, a good two hours after going in, Harry walked out with a trio of dark red tipped white owl feathers dangling on the right side of his face and his snowy owl perched smugly on his left shoulder.

Now he had some friends to catch up with and a harvest festival to enjoy.

* * *

**Author's Note:** Wow! This chapter got pretty long! Anyway I finished out the year. All summer stuff – both July through August for Hogwarts students and end of August for Atlantis students – will be next chapter. Year 2 (Year 1 for Ginny) will start in Chapter 13.

I think I went over the Atlantis schedule enough times, but just in case anyone is still confused: Midsummer is a week in the middle of June that Atlantis students get off. Hogwarts gets out for the summer around the same time, mid-to-late June. Then while Hogwarts kids have no school until September 1st, the Atlantis kids instead go back for the rest of third term and get one week off at the end of August before the next year starts.

So basically Atlantis Academy is on a trimester system: Term 1 is Sept-Dec, Term 2 is Jan-April, Term 3 is May-Aug. The 2-week Yule break ends their first term, Beltane ends their second term, Midsummer ended up being in the middle of the third term instead of ending a term which was why I made the last week of August another break to end third term. It was a bit confusing for myself, trying to remember that, so I thought I'd restate that here in case anyone was still wondering what they were doing back in school in the summer. And why did Harry and Luna show up two weeks before the end of August? Because recruiters start grabbing first year Outside students all of August to give them time to adjust.

I hope these notes preemptively answer any questions anyone might have had. Please review!


	12. Scenes From Summer

_**Disclaimer:**_ Harry Potter characters, settings, and book series belong to JKRowling. I own Amber, Orlando, and Chad and I'm borrowing Atlantis from general mythology.

**Spread Your Wings**

_**By Ebona Nite**_

**Chapter Twelve: Scenes From Summer**

Albus Dumbledore:

Even with a whole summer to concentrate on finding Harry Potter without school related matters getting in the way, Albus Dumbledore had had no luck. Even Fawkes continued to meet with failure, returning time and again with his undelivered letter and trilling sadly at the aged Headmaster.

Actually Albus wasn't quite so sure about Fawkes. He sounded disappointed, but every now and again amusement would trickle down their bond.

Albus had to wonder if the phoenix really could find the missing boy and was keeping him secret for some reason he refused to tell his human companion. Although if a phoenix had a reason for keeping Harry hidden, then at least Albus could be sure he was safe where ever he was. Still, it was rather frustrating.

Of course, all this running around trying to find Harry meant Albus had very little time in finding a new Defense professor. He'd only had one applicant after last year's debacle, and hadn't taken the time to go looking for a more… shall we say, _competent_, person. He'd met the man and at least had Fawkes confirm the man wasn't Dark or possessed or _imperio_'d. And it was too late to go begging his retired-auror friend Alastor Moody to take the job. Next year he'd just have to find someone exceptional to make up for anything the students had fallen behind on this year.

Blaise Zabini:

Blaise was at her wits end. Her mother was insisting she didn't go back to Hogwarts next year!

"Mother, _please_! Hogwarts has always been the safest place in Britain, I'm sure this was just a fluke. How could anyone guess the teacher would go insane like that? I mean, he'd taught muggle studies before and had never attacked the other teachers in years past! Please let me go?"

"Oh, all right Blaise. But I swear if one more thing happens I'm pulling you out immediately!"

"Fine. If one more bad thing happens I won't return. But at least let me finish second year at Hogwarts, so I don't have a gap in my education!"

Marissa Zabini sighed. He daughter could be so stubborn sometimes! "Very well dear. But this agreement lasts for as long as you go there – even if the next "bad thing" is in sixth year, I'll still pull you out."

"Thank you mother."

"And for goodness sake, try and make some friends this year! You can't go through life completely alone."

Blaise sighed. "Yes mother." No use arguing that she didn't trust her fellow Slytherins as far as she could throw them without magic, her fellow Slytherins didn't trust her because of her mother's reputation, and the rest of the school didn't trust her because she was a Slytherin herself. At least she got to go back.

Ginny Weasley:

Ginny was so excited! She was finally starting her first year, after years of watching her brothers head off to Hogwarts without her. Sure, she had second hand books. But as the only girl in the family her mother actually bought her robes instead of passing them down. Even if they did come from a second-hand store and were therefore cheaper than brand new. They weren't nearly as threadbare and patched as some of the clothing Ron got.

And her wand was from her mother's late mother. It worked for her though. Funny how this seemed to be a tradition in their family, for the children to start out with family wands and buy new ones when they were older. Then again, the Weasley family was large and always had plenty of old family wands for children to try out, and Molly was the last of the Prewitts so she had access to several wands on her side of the family as well.

Bill and Percy both got new wands when they became prefects and set aside their grandparents' wands, Charlie had bought his own the year he graduated and got a job, and Ron had their great uncle's wand which didn't work too well. Ron was sure it hated him.

Fred and George had gotten exceptionally lucky. They had the brother-wands from Uncles Fabian and Gideon Prewitt, their mother's older brothers who had also been twins, who had been killed in the war the year Molly had been pregnant with the twins. Their wands had been saved for Fred and George ever since, and had reacted to the young twins as strongly as new wands choosing their wizards for the first time. Mr. Ollivander had looked at them for a tiny fee and confirmed the old wands were near-perfect matches. So Fred and George lucked out.

On the other hand, Ginny's wand worked alright for her though it was nothing special. Mr. Ollivander, the day he'd taken a look at the twins' wands, had mentioned how more youngsters should get new wands or have their first wands tweaked after their magic finished growing and settling down in their late teens. Ginny wondered if that was why the Weasley family wand tradition started; from her father's stories it sounded like the tradition had been going on even before their unfortunate financial situation came about three generations back.

The young witch shook her head, red hair flying. What was she doing, getting lost in daydreams about wands? She had school shopping to do!

Ginny Weasley went skipping down Diagon Alley towards the bookshop after her family, the veritable sea of redheads cutting a swath through the crowd.

Ron Weasley:

Ron had an amusing day at Diagon Alley. Sure, they'd had to get second-hand books and robes again, and he still was getting robes passed down from his brothers instead of the not-quite-new robes mum had bought Ginny, he still had fat old Scabbers, the blasted rat that ate and slept and did nothing interesting, but meeting the Malfoys in Flourish and Blott's had made up for it all.

Okay, so normally that would have made the day even worse. But watching his dad give Mr. Malfoy a shiner for his rude remarks had made his day!

The book store had been crowded because some famous pompous git was doing a book signing. Mum had been going on and on about Lickhurt or whatever the guy's name was, and Ginny kept prattling about how her Harry Potter was better than any other wizard in the world. It was all shaping up to being boring and horrible.

Then that git Draco Malfoy had shown up and made a snide remark about second-hand robes, and his father had come and grabbed Ginny's books and made a snide remark about second-hand books, and then dad had jumped on him! It was perfect! Mum hadn't been pleased, but the rest of them cheered him on.

They'd all gotten kicked out of Flourish and Blott's for brawling, but it was worth it.

Atlantis:

Harry was quickly learning that the Atlantis students never slowed down. There was always homework, always preparing for the next class, the next trimester, the next year. He couldn't even think about joining any clubs or teams! Although it might be because he was taking more classes than the minimum requirement so that he'd graduate sooner rather than later. At the pace he as setting, he figured he'd be done in eight years. Luna had a similar schedule, though both figured it might change a bit once they reached third year and started finding electives they might want to continue.

Orlando was setting himself a blistering pace. With all classes crammed in, he could probably finish in the minimum six years, but had talked at length about all the different electives he wanted to take so for all Harry knew, the vampire might be taking classes straight though the maximum ten years. And being a vampire, he needed very little sleep, only a couple hours really. So Orlando stayed up, joining a few clubs at night for the nocturnal students. Actually, Harry thought there might be night classes for alternatives to the day classes for those who preferred a nocturnal schedule, but he hadn't seen any sign of Orlando taking any extra classes.

Chad was definitely aiming for the maximum ten years, and that was only because he was so lazy he preferred to take minimum requirements (with a few electives thrown in for fun once they were offered in third year) all the way through to graduation rather than getting things done fast.

Amber said she was aiming for seven years, but seeing as she wanted to join the racing team she was going to have to make room for practices and meets in her schedule. So hers might extend. At any rate, they'd all only just finished their first year, and a number of things could, and probably would, change as they progressed.

With first year ended, they had one week at the end of August to prepare for second year. None of them were visiting home, too busy getting new schedules, books, and supplies.

Harry was looking forward to starting the practical magic classes.

First year magic classes were entirely dedicated to theory. This was interesting in its own right for certain things. Like meditating to find his magical core, learning how to first follow his magic along its pathways through his body, then to draw it deliberately through them. How to draw it out and channel it through his feather focus without visible effort (unlike wands, rods, or handheld foci, which usually incorporated certain patterns of movement to help with channeling and focusing magic). They'd even begun learning the basic theory of occlumency in the last trimester, though very few students had even basic shielding set up yet.

This coming year promised to be interesting indeed. Beginner transfiguration, beginner herbology, beginner charms, jinxes, hexes, and curses. History class expanding to Outside communities. The class on magical beings and beasts switching to a class on magical creatures, a category far larger than beasts and the tiny list of beings. He didn't start potions until the next year, along-side chemistry.

And he couldn't wait to go flying again!

* * *

**Author's Note: **I think I'm getting better at writing these chapters. Once in a while though there's still going to be a shorty. I'm sort of learning as I go (looking back, now my first few chapters seem awful), but making progress in quality as well as quantity.

I thought you readers might like to know, that the main ideas for this story are actually centered around 5th year. However, considering all the changes I was making to the back story – Harry at a different school especially – I felt I couldn't just jump right in to 5th year. I'd be taking an awful lot of chapters space adding in flashbacks and having Harry repeat stories about where he's been and what he's been doing, and introducing his OC friends… so I figured it would be better to start first year so that the OC characters actually have a chance to flourish (or at least flesh out little) before I dumped them I the middle of the Hogwarts crew.

I have a number of different scenes in mind, several already written, but a lot of the connecting storyline like what classes Harry takes and how he lives daily in Atlantis and all that are being dropped or briefly skimmed over. Yes, I'm actually doing this on purpose. It would take me forever and a day to write it all out since I don't actually have that planned. So I make note of a few details here and there, add a couple subjects by name so you know what he's studying, and trying to focus on incidents that will explain my OC characters and other stuff like that without having to write so much about it. I suppose you could call this being lazy. A couple times I've given in and left really short chapters because I didn't feel the need to make them longer. Sort of like interludes or whatever. And a couple early chapters actually jump ahead in time, with the next chapter after it backing up again when I realized I'd skipped a lot of stuff I needed to go over after all.

Sometimes what works in my head leaves my readers mystified. How I got from Point A to Point C tends to skip Point B unless I remember that I'm to only one that knows that part. Surprisingly no one has really complained yet – I got a couple "huh?"s but no actual rants detailing upset. I thought I'd get ahead of them and explain my at-times scatterbrained thought process. So, yeah… some of these chapters seem ditzy in their order, or incomplete in their content…. I'm trying my best and I'm aware of that. It'll get better, I promise! Right now I'm just playing catch up between the complete scenes so I don't have a series of confusing scenes populated by two-dimensional OCs. I promise, the real party starts 5th year! ….It'll just take me a while to cover year 1 through 4 to adequately explain who and where everyone is in Year 5.

I do apologize, I've been ranting about myself for almost a page in MWord! Feel free to laugh at this lovely authoress' insecurities. And while you're laughing, please review!


	13. The Chamber Incident

**_Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter._**

**Spread Your Wings**

**_by Ebona Nite_**

**Chapter Thirteen: The Chamber Incident**

Ginny's p.o.v.:

It was Ginny Weasley's first year at Hogwarts and she was so very excited! She had gotten into Gryffindor with her brothers, her wand was much better than Ron's (his had belonged to their great-grandfather and had started to splinter over summer), and she'd made a friend named Romilda Vane whom she shared a dorm with. Of course, she'd also discovered that Luna wasn't going to Hogwarts, but she was determined to borrow Percy's owl and try writing her, where ever she was.

Speaking of writing, she had this wonderful diary that wrote back to her! It was her personal secret. She didn't want her brothers discovering Tom and being told everything that she'd written about Harry Potter and Gilderoy Lockheart.

Ooooo Lockheart! He was so handsome and clever and brave! Of course all the books they needed for DADA this year were his, and expensive, but on the other hand she got to be taught by him personally! It was so exciting and wonderful!

She really wished Harry Potter was here though.

Normal/Narrator p.o.v.:

What had started out as such a promising year, quickly turned sour.

To start with, the DADA professor was a complete and utter idiot.

Near the beginning of the year, while Lockheart still had hold-out fanatics who hadn't quite given in and admitted to his sheer imbecility, he had started a dueling club. It had garnered a fair amount of students from nearly all the years from all four Houses. Though the Slytherins were only there because Professor Snape was the "assistant teacher".

Lockheart had begun the first meeting with a demonstration between himself and Snape. Two seconds after the duel had begun Lockheart found himself introduced to the wall, face first.

There was a smattering of applause from the Slytherins and Ravenclaws, and even a few of the Gryffindors and Hufflepuffs looked impressed. Lockheart did the best he could to cover it up with his best "I meant to do that" grin.

Next, he called up Ron Weasley and Draco Malfoy. It was supposed to be a duel using only _expelliarmus _and _protego_, neither of which Lockheart had actually taught any of his students, but of course the Slytherin Prince had to complicate matters by conjuring a snake.

There was panic. There was screaming. Lockheart shouted nonsense, flourished his wand, and knocked the snake in front of Justin Finch-Fletchly of Hufflepuff. Justin was bitten.

Snape, having missed the chance to banish the snake immediately because of Lockheart's foolish wand-waving, quickly blasted Lockheart into the wall again, this time resulting in unconsciousness, banished the snake, levitated the fainting Justin, and ran out the door in the direction of the Hospital Wing with the rousing cheers and applause of all four Houses united behind him.

The hold-out fanatics did not survive the encounter. Thankfully, Justin did.

"They applauded me, Albus. Me!" Snape said in the staff meeting held later that day (Lockheart was not in attendance, being held in the Hospital Wing by an irate medi-witch), "The Gryffindors and Hufflepuffs cheering for me – does that tell you nothing? That man is a fraud! Worse, he's a moronic _dunderhead _who can barely tell which end of the wand to hold!"

Dumbledore twinkled, and assured him that Gilderoy Lockheart was the best Defense teacher he could find.

"Really? Then no one else must have applied." McGonagall muttered.

The twinkle disappeared.

As bad as this was, the rest of the year only got worse. It started with the roosters being mysteriously killed. Then Filch's cat, Mrs. Norris, was found petrified and hanging by her tail over a puddle of water, with a message written on the wall in blood.

THE CHAMBER OF SECRETS HAS BEEN OPENED. ENEMIES OF THE HEIR, BEWARE.

Draco Malfoy nearly got himself a detention for calling the Ravenclaw Hermione Granger a 'mudblood' and telling her she'd be next. Loudly. In the middle of the corridor. Which was filled with students and teachers.

Snape could be heard muttering that his godson would have done well in Gryffindor and something about letting his father handle the lack of tact.

Hermione wasn't next, but Justin was. He'd just gotten out of the Infirmary, having recovered from the snakebite. Just one corridor away he was discovered, petrified, with an unresponsive Sir Nick hanging in midair in front of him.

They'd been found by Peeves, who had promptly swooped away screaming in terror, "Help! Murder! Exorcism! Not even ghosts are safe! Run for your afterlives!"

The next attack had been a first year Gryffindor, Colin Creevy. He'd been found with his camera raised, but unfortunately the film had been badly burned along with any hope he might have gotten a picture of the perpetrator.

So far, all attacks had been on muggleborns of other Houses, so the pureblood Slytherins were all self-assured. Most of them, anyway. Tracy Davis was a halfblood, and could only hope her status as a Slytherin would protect her. Blaise Zabini was a pureblood, but was worried for a completely different reason.

Blaise had been avoiding writing her mother about these events, but as it had made it to the Prophet that two students were petrified she had no choice but to reassure her mother she was fine despite the life-threatening attacks going on in the hallowed halls of the safest place in Wizarding Britain.

Naturally, her mother insisted on pulling her out of Hogwarts immediately and informed her that she would begin making plans for transfer to a safer school with "a better education" immediately. Blaise got her to allow her to stay until Christmas break, and ride back on the Hogwarts Express with the other students. After all, there was safety in numbers, and she was a Slytherin who would therefore not be targeted, right?

Three days before the holiday began, Blaise was found petrified next to a blackened and half-melted suit of armor, a look of horrified recognition etched on her stony face.

Now the entire school was united in terror. No one was safe. Not the ghosts. Not the pureblood Slytherins. Whoever the Heir was, must be insane.

No other attacks occurred over the break. The only complaints were from Moaning Myrtle, bawling about having a book thrown through her head and clogging her toilet, and Madam Pomfrey who still needed Sprout's mandrake roots mature and harvested so Snape could brew the restorative potion she needed. Snape and Sprout were a tad put out, since there was absolutely nothing either of them could do to make the plants grow any faster so Pomfrey's complaints did nothing but annoy.

After the holiday, the New Year was ushered in with bleak and scared groups of children huddling together and slouching quietly through the corridors.

But no more attacks occurred. Two months passed. Spring bloomed. People began to relax. Except for the petrified students and their families. And one lonely Gryffindor first year with dark circles under her eyes and four older brothers who didn't ever seem to stop long enough to say hello.

And then Hermione and her prefect, Penelope Clearwater, were found a hallway away from the Library, peaking into a handmirror pointed around the corner.

The panic came back, full force.

Luckily, the mandrakes were a month away from harvesting.

Unluckily, two weeks later Ginny Weasley disappeared. Another message was written on the wall in blood:

HER SKELETON WILL LIE IN THE CHAMBER FOREVER.

The Weasley family gathered in the Headmaster's office, stricken. All save Ron, who for reasons known only to himself, decided to take out his frustration on their fraudulent ponce of a DADA teacher. Or perhaps he was trying to force the fool to rescue his sister. Either way, the end result was Lockheart with no memories, Ron with a snapped wand and mild concussion, and Lockheart summarily dismissed for attacking students and being completely incompetent, and was Flooed to St Mungo's for treatment.

Ron finally joined his family in the Headmaster's office, and Dumbledore got a copy of his memories of the scuffle with Lockheart to send to the aurors. Just then, the Headmaster's phoenix Fawkes suddenly flashed away in a burst of fire. Dumbledore mentally cursed for not having thought of sending Fawkes immediately himself.

Five minutes later, just after Bill and Charlie had Flooed in from Gringotts and a Romanian dragon preserve, Madame Pomfrey Floo-called to say Fawkes had shown up with a comatose Ginny.

There was a red-haired rush to the Infirmary, during which the majority of the Weasley family forgot there was such a thing as a Floo service. Charlie, used to keeping his head around rampaging dragons, got there first via Floo right behind the Headmaster.

_Down in the Chamber, a battered diary lies forgotten. A ghost-like Tom Riddle looks confused. All insanity and rage have disappeared from his countenance. The diary mutters darkly, and then falls silent. Tom slowly fades away. Behind the mouth of the statue of an ugly, monkey-ish man with serpentine eyes, a basilisk coils and falls back into the stasis it knows as a long cold sleep._

Ginny woke ten days later, in perfectly good health and insisting she couldn't remember a thing. A few days later the petrified students were restored. Blaise decided she wasn't so put off about being pulled out of Hogwarts after all. Mostly, she was miffed about missing Christmas. New school, here she comes!

* * *

**Author's Note:** I apologize for taking so long to get this chapter done. However I refuse to feel guilty about it. Real Life takes priority. I want to thank all my reviewers for continuing to read despite my slow updates. I promise I will continue. I just can't promise fast or regular updates.

Also, please feel free to tell me your opinions and/or suggestions on Draco Malfoy. I have yet to decide whether I want to make him an Evil Death Eater or a Spy or just one of those Annoying Characters. I don't think he'll turn into One Of The Good Guys, I need him to continue being a git. But suggestions for how to use his character in later years might be helpful.

Please review! Thank you lots if you do! Especially if you are a regular reviewer! (Plus if you catch any really bad misspellings or grammatical errors, let me know. I like to correct those and my spellcheck doesn't catch everything for some reason. Thanks!)

**Edit:** I have gone through and edited all the misspellings I found. Plus 'chickens' became 'roosters' and I added a sentence here and there to hopefully clarify. Please note that Dumbledore is human and not infallable. Otherwise I'm sure canon Dumbledore would have thought to send Fawkes immediately. Thank you all for the reviews. At the time of this edit I've had more votes for Annoying Idiot Git Draco than DE Draco. I will take that under consideration. One person asked why I bother doing Hogwarts highlights since Harry doesn't go there; this is to set up certain events later. I'm making a note of certain changes, like Hermione being in Ravenclaw, and of certain events that will affect events later on to a greater or lesser extent. So far the Atlantis crew has only been given highlights as well, though I know I need to give more characterization and will be working on that, because as I've said before events pick up closer to 5th year.

Also, I realize I haven't gone as in-depth with Luna's character as I should have. I really have meant to, and will try to add more details about Harry and Luna, not to mention my OCs, in the coming chapters. If I have the time not to mention the inspiration, perhaps I will go back and add more to earlier chapters at a later date, but I'm not going to promise anything at this time. And no, I have not missed any of the plot devices I've been setting up such as Atlantis being set apart by seraphim, I'm just saving those for closer to 5th year when Atlantis and Hogwarts events (and people) begin to come together. Watch for hints in upcoming Atlantis-focused chapters.


	14. Living In Atlantis

_**Disclaimer: **__I do not own the Harry Potter series and make no money off this fanfiction._

**Spread Your Wings**

_**By Ebona Nite**_

**Ch 14 Outline: Living In Atlantis**

* * *

"Heya Harry!" Chad came bounding into the dining commons. "So! Year Two! Thinking of trying out for any sports?"

Harry rolled his eyes at the werewolf's – that is, _lycanthrope's_ – enthusiasm, and smiled. "Um, I don't know. I like flying, but I'm not so sure about Quidditch or Quadpot. Maybe I'll try out for football, I like running…."

Chad considered this. "Huh… you're a little small for football mate. You seem more like a soccer kid to me. Or maybe track. Yeah, track and field! We can do that together!"

Harry blinked in confusion, and then smacked his forehead. "_Soccer, not football_." He mumbled, "I keep forgetting the Americanisms. Sorry Chad, I meant soccer… I'll think about track. I'm not so sure I want to do lots of sports, especially with all the practical magic classes starting this year."

The spiky-haired lycan gave Harry a shocked looked. "Not do a lot of sports?!"

Harry laughed. "Spoken like a true sporty athlete!"

Luna, Amber, and Orlando opted to join them for breakfast then.

"Good morning everyone! Oh look, the heliopaths are dancing. There must be wind today."

"Good morning Luna." Harry squinted at the fireplace but, seeing nothing, quickly gave up. "Does that mean I should bring my jacket?"

"Well that depends. There shouldn't be rain, or they'd be agitated and throwing sparks and pushing embers around. The sylphs haven't been out this morning, at least none that I saw, but I did see some air sprites. The wind shouldn't be too bad, but then, the moojies might tangle your hair in spite."

"I don't think the moojies would have much work to do with _my_ hair."

"That true." Choosing some raspberry yogurt and a banana, Luna sat next to him and started eating her breakfast.

Amber trotted over with a platter of wheat cakes and jam. "Okay, sylphs are air elementals right? So what's the difference with air sprites? And what on earth are moojies, cow sprites?"

Luna laughed. "Oh, moojies live in nests of hair, preferably still attached to one's head. I named them "moojies" because they are particularly fond of making cowlicks in people's hair as they sleep. Bedhead is all their fault. Well mostly, some of that is how you sleep on your pillow…. Also they don't like a lot of wind, so they tangle hair in spite. Wearing a hat generally tames them, though you can get hat hair just from the hat, which makes the moojies happy."

"And the sylphs and air sprites?"

"Oh there's lots of different types of sprites for all the elements, its just only a few of them are known so they tend to be called "elementals" as if it makes them special… they just happen to be the most common, not the most powerful, so they are seen and known. Sylphs are common air sprites. A lot of the others don't have individual names."

"Naiads were once mistaken for water elementals rather than a race of nymph," Orlando chimed in, without even looking up from his book, "because of their ability to camouflage underwater so completely they look like they are melting into the water and becoming part of their surroundings. And mundane literature often calls gnomes earth elementals even though they're really just creatures. An elemental – or sprite, which is pretty much the same thing though _usually_ "elemental" is used for the more powerful ones and "sprite" is used for the weaker but more abundant ones – has to be made up of the element and magic rather than flesh and blood, or else it is designated a creature (or beast)."

Harry had been listening to all this so intently he'd finished his breakfast without even tasting it. It was rather a shock to feel his spoon scrape the inside of the owl, look down and find the oatmeal (with honey and strawberries so sweeten it) all gone.

This seemed to be the signal for the end of the breakfast; as Harry got up and reached for his book bag his friends were all finishing up and standing as well. They left the dishes – in most dorms the students had to take their dishes to the kitchen, though there were staff that did actually cleaning, but the brownie students in the Thunderbirds dorm had been most insistent about "helping out" and so had called dibs on that chore, as well as the dusting, vacuuming, and generally tidying of the public areas. But they didn't do windows.

************

"My brain hurts." Chad moaned. And that was the end of his study period that night. There was only so much studying a person more inclined to run around a track jumping hurdles could take.

Chad was not a studying type person. He was great at sports, and loved most of them (except table-tennis aka ping-pong, which he didn't get the point of), and he loved going on long hikes, often with camera in hand. But when it came to actual classes… well the best that could b said for him was that he was trying, and not skipping any of his classes. Though that may have been partly because Orlando had the room across the hall from him. Nothing like a bookworm vampire dragging you out of bed before dawn to get you going.

Despite the fact that Chad may have been more happy at a somewhat slower paced school Outside Atlantis, now that he was Inside he wasn't about to give up his spot, be it from flunking out or being kicked out from laziness. You certainly couldn't call him lazy. He struggled sure, he cursed out his math homework yes, he managed acceptable work in history and got Orlando to quiz him senseless in Lantisian language until he learned it from sheer stubborn repetitiveness, and aced any class involving physical training. No, Chad was not lazy, despite hating to do so much hard work with pencil-pushing, but he was definitely stubborn.

On the other hand, he was a "track and field fiend" as Orlando had put it. Not yet twelve, he'd already made the Thunderbird dorm team, and was having the time of his life.

At least he was enjoying the magical defense class he was taking. Though hat might have had something to do with the fact that the first two weeks were devoted entirely to learning ways to dodge, run, sneak, hide, and otherwise evade without magic before getting into defensive magic.

The rest of the group of friends were doing well in their classes, to varying degrees depending on the person and which classes they were taking.

Harry, in particular, was quite enjoying the creatures, beasts, and beings class he was taking with Chad and Luna. It was required for those students who can from Outside, and optional for native Atlantians.

A middle-aged human woman named Mrs. Seika taught the class. The first day was completely about the differences between creatures, beasts, and beings. Harry had understood why beings would be different, but had been wondering what was so different about creatures and beasts – weren't they just two different words for saying "animals?"

However, the community of Atlantis – and in fact, quite a few magical communities Outside Atlantis – used "creatures" and "beasts" to designate different levels of intelligence, along with several other factors. Harry found such varying levels of factors utterly fascinating. Atlantis, unlike many Outside communities, mixed magical and non-magical together, even here.

_Flashback to class:_

"_Good afternoon students, I am your teacher Mrs. Seika. This class is about creatures and beasts and a little about beings, though mostly in how certain species are classified as beings instead of beasts or vice versa. Today I will lecture, and tomorrow will be devoted to questions. Please write down any you have and save them for then._

"_If you wish to learn more in depth about the differing species of beings, there are anatomy, culture, and psychology classes more suited, or you can find friendly students of different species and asked them about themselves._

_Now, on to our subject matter. While many understand that beings differ from the beasts and creatures due to sentience and the presence of cultures, most do not understand the differences between beasts and creatures, or even why certain species are beasts instead of beings or beings instead of bests. Virtually no one thinks of whether there are variance in designation based on whether the species, race, or individual is magical or mundane. Well, you all will at the end of this lecture._

"_Let's start with magical versus mundane._

"_Magical means having a magic core and/or being inherently magical. By inherently, I mean having magic incorporated into one's very beings, flesh and blood, mind and spirit, perhaps even being made of magic. Elemental sprites are a good example: they are made entirely from their element and magic, no flesh and blood at all. Without magic, air sprite would not be, they would merely be air or a gust of wind. A unicorn is inherently magical, its horn, blood, tears, and hair are able to be used in potions or foci, and a hoof or chunk of flesh would register as magical; whereas a chunk of a wizard's flesh would merely be flesh for they have a magic core but are not inherently magical. I do not suggest you try testing this by attacking unicorns or mutilating yourself, that is a good way to get killed._

_Generally, it is only beings that have certain species with magical cores rather than being inherently magical. It has been noted that humans and human-based species – meaning werewolves and vampires – have magic cores. Werewolves and vampires, though, generally gain a permutation of magic throughout their bodies, especially those born rather than bitten, and after a few decades will register as magically-inherent on scans. Centaurs, veela, sphinxes, merfolk, and nymphs are all inherently magical, for magic is needed to keep their bodies working. Human beings have the greatest number of mundane among our species simply because we are able to go on existing without magic._

"_Now, for magical creatures._

"_Magic often makes animals more intelligent than their mundane cousins. For example: mundane owls are creatures; magically enhanced post-owls are magical creatures. Studied side by side, the magically enhanced owl is far more intelligent than the mundane owl, able to understand simple instructions and directions, locate mail recipients, and even follow instructions such as "give this person this letter only when they are alone." Mundane owls or other birds can be trained to certain levels, but not to such a complex, relatively speaking, command._

"_Kneazles are also much more intelligent than the common house cat. A cat can come to recognize a person and whether or not that person is generally friendly or likes to pull their tail, can learn to recognize the sound of a can opener and associate that with food, and be trained to use a litterbox. Kneazles take this a step farther, recognizing whether a person is trustworthy or not even if the person is a complete stranger, and if their chosen human companion is ill or in danger will often go for help._

"_Now, on to beasts. Magical beasts are the animals, birds, fish, reptiles, and insects with some level of intelligence/sentience that allows them to interact with beings, possibly communicate intelligently on some level, but which cannot be a full member of society (i.e. they eat beings, are inherently violent, are ruled by their instincts, etc)._

"_Phoenixes, manticores, acromantulas, dementors, trolls, and magical serpents all fall in this category. Manticores are, on a certain level, much like sphinxes. Unlike sphinxes they are inherently violent and often eat beings, therefore are classified as beasts. Trolls simply do not have the level of intelligence or ability to be nonviolent for long periods of time to interact with beings. Acromantulas eat beings. Phoenixes are simply too bird-like to participate in a community. Dementors have a sort of society among themselves, but subsist on the emotions and souls of beings. It has been noted that manticores and acromantulas can learn human languages; this however tends to make them more dangerous, as they lure prey to them by talking reasonably before ensnaring and eating, often preferring their prey live._

"_This brings us to a point of contention. Hags are a common argument here, for they appear to be human. They have both magical and mundane members of their species, though the magical outnumber the mundane five-to-one. They can be members of communities, have societies and cultures, buy and sell goods, and interact with beings. Some Outside communities count them among beings. We on Atlantis, however, make note that their diet includes human – or beings close to humans, like werewolves and veela – liver and kidneys, and find infants and small children delicacies. Even if we would be inclined to look past these "delicacies" this does not change the fact that they must have human or humanish liver and kidneys. Just as vampires must have blood. Vampires can survive on animal blood; hags cannot survive on animal liver, it must be closer to their own physiognomy to supply them with the proper nutrients they need. It is this which makes us classify them as beasts instead of beings; indeed, it is this that makes us expel them from Atlantis entirely._

"_Which brings us to the subject of magical beings. Non-magical beings, of course, are in majorities the mundane humans. Dwarves and elves, who like humans have magic cores rater than inherent magic, have a minority of mundanes within their species, but humans certainly have the majority._

"_Magical beings, according to Atlantis charter, consist of: humans, vampires, werewolves, veela (often mistaken for a race of nymph, they are in fact avian-anthro shifting-hybrids much like lycanthropes), giants, nymphs (which include dryads, naiads, and sirens), merfolk, selkies (another shifting-hybrid of seal-folk), centaurs, sphinxes, harpies, satyrs, goblins, dwarves, brownies, leprechauns, elves, and fae. It has been suggested that veela are actually a race of bird-fae, but good luck getting any of them to either confirm or deny such claims._

"_And then there are Celestials," Mrs. Seika said, briefly looking starry-eyed before returning to her stern lecture mode. "Celestials are more commonly called angels. There are three tiers: the Angels, the Archangels, and the Seraphim. The difference between each is power-level, represented by the number of wings; Angels have one pair, Archangels have two pairs, and Seraphim have three pairs. The wings are not actual physical feathered wings, though they look similar, but rather are made entirely of magic, often appearing as feathered-wings made of light the color or colors of the Celestial's aura. Celestials can ascend from any Being, and unlike common myth do not just look like humans with wings, but rather like the species they were born as with the addition of wing-like magic, often thought to be an extension of their aura, as I described before. _

"_Celestials are direct rivals of the Infernals, beings from other dimensions and universes often referred to as demons. The Angels match the Demons in power, Archangels match Archdemons, and Seraphim match Master Demons, as we have come to call them._

"_You should all have had the Atlantis History class by now and learned of Gabriel and Raphael who moved out Island Sideways leaving it in its own pocket-dimension only partially connected to the Outside world, so I will not go over Celestials further. Books can be found in the Academy's library if any of you are interested in learning further._

"_I will not be teaching much about any of the races of beings, unless it directly relates to beasts or creatures. If any of you have questions concerning the subject of beings, please make note of that and what I said at the beginning of this lecture. I believe that is enough today. Please read the introductions to your two books before class tomorrow if you haven't already. Good day students."_

_End flashback._

_*******************_

Amber was in less of the classes that Harry, Luna, and Orlando were taking, preferring a different order to some of her required classes as well as having some that, as a centaur, she either didn't need or needed a different version of. And had some classes specifically designed for the different non-human species (the water-based species – merfolk, naiads, sirens, selkies, and water-based fae – needed classes underwater or near water, after all. There was a reason there were streams and pools throughout the campus, even reaching inside certain buildings).

Chad wasn't in as many classes with them simply because he was taking the less intensive route, aiming for the full 10 years rather than trying to finish after seven or eight, and therefore didn't need so many required classes at a time. Amber was simply taking as many as she felt comfortable with each trimester and seeing where it got her.

Orlando said he was aiming for six years, the absolute shortest route to graduate, but Harry suspected that next year when electives were offered he'd find his schedule lengthened. Then again, being a vampire meant Orlando only needed four hours of sleep every 24 hour period (after a century or two, he'd said, he'd only need four hours every week, then twice a month, then once a month, as he got older). He usually opted to take those hours in the middle of the day and take classes later into the evening, and Harry guessed he was taking some night classes already. So conceivably he could graduate at sixteen if he didn't join any clubs or have a social life. As if his friends would let him get away with that.

Harry and Luna opted to aim for seven to eight years and see where electives and personal preferences got them in the next year or so.

***********************

The beginning magical courses Harry was taking this year, besides the Creatures and Beasts class, were Transfiguration, Defensive Magics, and Spells. Spells was particularly interesting, as it covered charms, jinxes, hexes, and of course all the counters. Curses were strictly part of Offensive Magics, though there was an overlap with Defensive Magics as one needed to know the counter-curses, and Harry was planning on adding the OM course in second trimester. Maybe he'd be good enough to qualify for the beginner's Dueling elective next year!

He'd learned to focus his magic through the feathers in his hair without much effort, though he found it mildly distracting. It seemed like an extra step that just complicated things. He could do it now with no visible effort, nothing to show it was a focus. According to his Magical Theory teacher last year, a focus was supposed to channel one's magic so that it was amplified, and that magic users often found that despite the "extra step" of focusing and channeling the additional amplification of one's magic made up for it… but Harry wasn't seeing much difference, if any. In the weaker exercises and spells, it even seemed to dampen his magic some… although this helped keep things from exploding at times while he was still getting the hang of the spells.

Luna had once suggested he focus on focus-less magic instead. And he did, to an extent. Harry found he actually had somewhat of an affinity for it, which was rare among humans apparently. He'd been told he'd need to learn to "ground and center" before casting without a focus, since otherwise he might find his control slipping. And once he'd learned what that meant and the exercises for it, found he'd been doing something similar already on instinct. He learned the "proper" ways anyway, so that he'd know what he was doing in the future in case the instinct left him or was disrupted by something.

Harry was also taking Herbology, the magical parallel of a horticulture class, because it was one of the two prerequisites for Potions – the other being Chemistry. Harry thought he might manage to get both prerequisites in before the next year.

But of course he also had to take the mundane courses: history, Lantisian language, literature, math (he was up to Algebra 2, having taken first level Algebra and geometry last year), and science (this trimester he had an intro to physical sciences).

Chad had managed to pull him out to fly some more, and he'd participated in a game of pick-up Quidditch as a Seeker. Everyone said he was a natural, both at flying and at Seeking, but he found he preferred not to dodge bludgers and other players and had begged off after the first game concluded. Harry would often go off flying on his own or with Luna, sometimes accompanied by Hedwig, just to relax and enjoy the feel of the wind in his hair and on his face.

Hedwig was a wonderful companion for this, often winging in out of nowhere minutes after he'd gotten aloft, hooting encouragement and gliding beside him or playing a game of tag depending on his mood.

She also would perch on Luna's broom handle when Luna joined them, allowing the dreamy-eyed blonde to run fingers through her soft feathers.

Harry promised himself to get his own broom next time he visited a marketplace. Using the dorm's brooms was okay, but sometimes he had to wait when they were in use, especially during impromptu Quidditch games.

**********************

Luna had been a fantastic friend. She still came off as dreamy and somewhat loony to those who didn't know her, but that only made her more endearing to Harry. She stuck by his side no matter what, and he did the same for her. Amber couldn't fly with him, Orlando often had his nose stuck in a book, and Chad was sometimes too active for Harry to bear. Luna seemed to match him in a way no one else did or could.

* * *

**Author's Note: **Okay, it looks like Draco will be an annoying git but not actually a Death Eater. But most likely he'll get punched in the nose by Hermione and others more than once.

Death Eaters are going to die. Do you want Snape to die? Either he's loyal to Voldemort and dies, is redeemable and gets his Dark Mark removed and doesn't die, or sacrifices himself in the end much like canon, being loyal to Dumbledore but still dying. How do you vote? And if you come up with a unique fourth option I'm open to suggestions!


	15. Friends, Family, and A Dog

_**Disclaimer: **__I continue to own nothing of Harry Potter though the OC's are mine._

**Spread Your Wings**

_**By Ebona Nite**_

_**12-31-2008, welcoming in 2009**_

**_Edit: Ravenclaw Solution added to the Snape's Fate poll at the bottom_**

**Chapter Fifteen: Friends, Family, and a Friendly Family Dog**

* * *

Luna:

It was Midsummer break, and Luna finally had a chance to go home and visit her father. Luna missed the two-and-a-half month summers that would have come with a Hogwarts education, mainly because she missed her father and the month-long vacations to different countries that he'd take her on every summer, searching for rare animals and amusing stories for _The Quibbler_. Often, he'd allow her to help write the articles!

Atlantis Academy was wonderful for educational purposes, but Luna missed spending time with her father. The breaks were short and except for the winter and summer solstice holidays and the break in August, she had no time to go home. She barely had time to catch up on her sleep and homework! Luna wished she could convince Daddy to relocate to Atlantis, but he had his newspaper to consider and really, she had yet to decide if she actually wanted to live on the Island after her schooling.

But, it was Midsummer break now and already two years had gone by. Two whole years! It was hard to believe she had turned twelve that May and would have only finished her first year at Hogwarts had she gone.

Thinking of Hogwarts made Luna think of Ginny. Maybe they could start over? It had been a while since she'd seen the redheaded girl on the other end of the apple orchard. It would be nice having human female company.

Plus, she could introduce Harry. She'd convinced Harry to come home with her so she could introduce him to Daddy and the _Quibbler_ properly. They were getting along great! The discussion last night over dinner centered around a possible expedition to Texas, USA next summer to visit Amber and her herd and look for the jackalope warrens that Amber swore were on her herdland.

Currently Harry and Daddy were debating whether or not hummingbirds were the non-magical relatives of the golden snitch, and if other colors of snitch might exist.

Really, Harry might think he hadn't "found his niche" yet, but from her perspective he was absolutely mad about animals, magical and non-magical alike! Not to mention he was so good at handling them. Mrs. Seika, who taught the Creatures and Beasts class last year, and once commented that it was almost as if Harry had beast-empathy despite his insistence he felt nothing of the sort. Personally, Luna thought Mrs. Seika was right and Harry was just being stubborn about creatures being her niche. Honestly, she might be able to see nargles and such, but she much preferred Healing and music.

Oh dear, she'd lost her train of thought. Oh yes, Ginny.

Normal (meaning the Author's) pov:

Luna was eventually able to pull Harry away from his discussion about hummingbirds and snitches. The two ran off through the overgrown orchard towards the Burrow, Luna happily chattering about the Weasley family the whole way.

Arriving, Mrs. Weasley was absolutely delighted to see Luna again after her two year absence, and invited the two in for the cold chicken sandwiches she'd just been putting out for lunch. Harry was introduced sans last name, and with his bangs grown out, glasses that looked nothing like his father's thick black frames, and scar faded to nearly nothing, he went unrecognized as the Wizarding World's Lost Savior.

Harry was introduced to Fred and George via his hair turning vibrant orange.

As Harry and the twins huddled in a corner discussing pranks, Luna and Ginny were reconciling. It involved a lot of tears and laughter, and sniffling, and Ginny begging forgiveness for being so childish and stupid, and Luna begging forgiveness for never telling her she wasn't going to Hogwarts after all.

Then the twins headed upstairs looking smug, Ron fled to get out of their line of fire, and Harry joined the now sane and dry-eyed pair of girls to hear about Ginny's first year at Hogwarts. He wanted to know what he was missing out on.

In the end, he concluded he was quite glad he'd "missed out on" Hogwarts "adventures" after all.

Ginny:

Ginny haltingly told them about her first year at Hogwarts. How she had found a diary in among her second-hand books after the fight her father and Lucius Malfoy had gotten into. How instead of being suspicious she thought her mother had gotten it for her and began writing in it. How it began writing back, and how she stupidly forgot all her father's warning about cursed objects. How she'd had blackouts and woken up covered in blood and rooster feathers and idiotically never telling anyone.

And finally, how she'd ended up down in the Chamber of Secrets, possessed by the spirit of Voldemort through the diary, slowly being drained of life. And all because she never told anyone or asked for help even when she knew something was wrong and suspected it might have something to do with her and her blackouts.

But Fawkes had saved her, and she was eternally grateful to the Headmaster's phoenix familiar.

"So what happened to the diary?" Harry asked after he and Luna had absorbed the tale.

"What?!" Ginny shrieked. That was the last thing she'd expected to be asked.

"Well it was down in the Chamber with you, and then the phoenix rescued you. Did he destroy it? Bring it up with you? Or was it left down there leaving Vol – er, You-Know-Who's spirit stuck down there?"

"Oh, er, um… I think it's still down there."

"Well nevermind, I'm sure it can't do any harm without a person writing in it that it can possess." Harry said quickly, realizing he'd made the girl uncomfortable. "Good riddance."

"So tell me about Atlantis," Ginny said, quickly changing the subject. "How long is your summer break, for instance?"

"Oh dear, Orlando made such a mess of it when he told me and Harry back in first year." Luna said, giggling. "He really does know a lot, but he rambles so."

"Yeah, he had me thinking we got two weeks for Midsummer, and then I was wondering for months why we started school in September after two weeks of settling in, in August!" Harry laughed. "Anyway, do you know any of the old druid feast days? The Wheel holidays are based on them. Atlantis follows this religion called "The Wheel," which has eight holidays. There's Yule of course, and Samhain, which most people know."

"Samhain, like Halloween?"

"Similar. Anyway, Yule holiday covers most of the winter holidays of other religions too. Its two weeks long, for Midwinter (which is the winter solstice) and New Year's. Then February 1st is Candlemass, the Burning Day. It's for purification, and it's based of the druidic Brigid's Day although they've adopted the Christian name. People light a lot of candles to light the way towards spring and to represent purification, or something like that. Next after Candlemass is the Vernal Equinox in March, then the Beltane celebration which actually starts at sundown on April 30, so I guess it covers Walpurgis Night as well as May Day. They do have a bonfire from sunset to dawn. It's for cleansing by fire, you can throw things representing bad memories of the past year into the bonfire, and some people throw in representations of their hopes for the coming year, like tokens of love."

Luna then took over the explanation. "After Beltane comes the summer solstice, and we have one week off for Midsummer rather than two, which was where Orlando really confused us. Then the harvest festival is August 1st, and that's also adopted the Christian name Lammas, I think because "Lughnasadh" is hard to pronounce or remember how to spell. A lot of people just call it "Harvest Day" or "Harvest Festival" instead. Then at the end of August we have one more week off before the next school year starts on September 1. But recruiters go Out early and start bringing in new students as early as Lammas so they can get settled in to the new community and learn their way around Atlantis before classes start.

"Then of course there's the Autumnal Equinox in September and Samhain at the end of October." Harry finished. "We get two days off for Samhain, because so many people are used to October 31 and many others are used to November 1. All you really have to remember is that we get eight holidays: two weeks off for Yule and the shorter holidays follow the solstices, the equinoxes, and the four 'cross-quarter' days in between each."

Ginny did her best to take this all in, but was honestly confused. "Wait, so it's all the old pagan druid holidays but half of them have Christian names?"

"Sort of." Harry said. "Like I said, Atlantis holidays are _based_ on them, but they don't follow them exactly. Candlemass, for example has little to do with the Christian holiday and is only similar to the Gaelic one, not exactly like it. Atlantis has been pretty isolated so a lot of things changed with no Outside influences. Then they began allowing a few Outside students in, and since the Christian religion was pretty dominant in much of the Western world some of that carried over. But mostly just as holiday names and a few Christmas traditions. But because of the isolation and the extreme minority of Outside students, of which only a fraction were Christians, there still hasn't been too much influence."

Luna nodded, "Everyone is allowed their own beliefs, but racism and bigotry and trying to force others to follow your religion are not. Most people inclined to such things aren't allowed In just anyway. Now, enough of this heavy stuff! Tell Harry about Fred and George. What have they been blowing up lately?"

Blaise:

"What do you mean I'm not going back to Hogwarts?!"

Blaise wasn't at all sure what to think of her mother's decision just now. On the one hand, during her two years at "the safest place in Britain" she had been set upon by a troll, had her defense teacher turn out to be a fraud out to steal something from the Headmaster (and a poor teacher besides), been subjected to a second defense teacher even worse from the first who didn't know one end of his wand from the other (except to obliviate people, steal their accomplishments, and write books which he forced the students to buy), and been petrified by a basilisk that lived beneath the school.

On the other hand, her mother hadn't talked the decision over with her beforehand, and Blaise couldn't think of a school in Europe with better teachers – other than the lackluster defense teachers of course.

Actually, it might not be such a bad idea to transfer out, for her own safety. But she had to keep up appearances, which included a token argument.

"You aren't going back dear. That place isn't safe." Marissa Zabini sighed and tossed her long auburn hair over one shoulder. "I believe it is time to tell you about the rest of your family."

"You mean… my father?" Blaise asked skeptically. All she really knew of him was that he was Italian, rich, and she and gotten her sleek black hair, dark brown eyes, and olive complexion from him.

"No no. Your uncle. My brother. You see, the Zabini family goes back a long way, and the main branch of the clan has always lived on Atlantis."

Blaise's eyes bugged out, "_The_ Atlantis?!"

"Yes. And we are a clan of born vampires. A child between a vampire and a human can be born either species. Your father was human, and though you do have somewhat heightened senses, you are human."

At this point Blaise had forgotten such niceties as "ladies do not gape like goldfish." She thought she understood her mother's obsession with men now, and had an insight into how they might have ended up dead so easily. Marissa gave a fanged grin, as if hearing her daughter's thoughts.

"Anyway, Atlantis does not like murder and violence, unless it is in the name of sports. I always preferred being a cat with men as my mice, and such… activities… were looked down on in that community. So I finished the Academy, took a few courses at the University, and relocated Outside. I settled in Britain and began living my life the way I preferred. I can go visit, and as long as I don't bring my machinations to the Island they leave me alone. But I could never live there again, even if I wanted to.

"However, I got ahold of my old school friend, Sheylara Araceli (she's also a vampire, of the Araceli clan who are allies of the Zabini clan), and got you a place at the Atlantis Academy. I've trained you in much the same way as the Atlantis primary schooling, including basics in mundane subjects, so you shouldn't be too far behind. You'll live with your Uncle Mordecai, and Sheylara says she has a son your age who can show you around."

Blaise managed to close her mouth, swallow dryly a couple times, and nod. Going to the Atlantis Academy… they may have muggle – er mundane – classes, but some of those subjects were interesting. She wouldn't be looking over her shoulder for jealous Slytherins or angry Gryffindors, she'd be getting the best education there was; who cared if her mother and the rest of her family were vampires! Besides, her mother seemed to be the violent child in the family, otherwise she'd still be on Atlantis, Blaise mused. She shouldn't have much to worry about, other than trying to fit in.

Next year was going to be very interesting indeed.

And maybe she could make some _real _friends this time.

Sirius:

A large, shaggy, bear-like black dog stood in the darkness on Magnolia Street. His hair was scraggly and matted with dirt and burrs, and he was far too skinny and bony to be healthy. He was looking for his boy.

His boy was Harry Potter, and the dog was escaped convict Sirius Black.

Sirius was an animagus. In school, he'd been best friends with James Potter, Remus Lupin, and Peter Pettigrew. They'd been unstoppable pranksters, calling themselves "The Marauders." They'd been on top of the world!

Then they had graduated, and joined the war effort. Remus, being a werewolf, had found it difficult to get paying jobs. He started disappearing for times and refusing to say where he'd been. James had married Lily, and he and Sirius had become aurors. Peter had gotten a Ministry desk job.

They'd all joined Dumbledore's Order of the Phoenix to help fight Voldemort. Soon after, it became apparent there was a spy in the Order. And to top it all off, when Lily became pregnant Dumbledore had come to them talking about a prophesy. Harry was born, Sirius became his godfather, and Dumbledore insisted the Potters go into hiding.

Stupid! Stupid! Stupid! They had suspected poor Remus of being the spy. Not because he was a werewolf, but because he kept sneaking off and not telling them where he'd gone. In retrospect, he was probably working odd jobs in the muggle world and too embarrassed to tell his friends about it.

So Sirius had come up with the "brilliant" plan of making timid, unassuming Peter the Secret Keeper for the Potters' _fidelis_, while Sirius, who was the obvious choice, could be Peter's decoy. Sirius already crashed in James and Lily's spare bedroom and played nanny to Harry more often than staying in his own apartment, so he hadn't felt too worried for himself. This would ensure the Death Eaters wouldn't come after the rat animagus or his family before they were safely hidden. It was the first part of the two part plan, where Lily, who was staying at home to take care of Harry and study for her Charms Mastery, would become Secret Keeper for Peter and his family, thereby ensuring everyone involved were safe.

They never made it to that step. Pettigrew went running off to his master and the very next Halloween Voldemort had attacked the Potters.

Then Sirius let Hagrid take Harry to Dumbledore, realizing that his godson needed immediate medical attention for the bleeding gash on his forehead and possible smoke-inhalation, and stupidly went after Peter instead of following Hagrid to take care of his godson.

Peter, shy and timid and unassuming and _cowardly_ Peter, had framed him of being the Potters' Secret Keeper, thrown a surprisingly powerful _rictumsempra_ on him – one of the few spells Peter knew well enough to channel such power into – and blown up the street and thirteen muggles. Probably a _reducto_ empowered by the rat's fear. Sirius had been laughing too hard to move much, a tactic he often liked to employ himself in a duel. By the time Sirius could fight off the tickling charm (he was horribly ticklish, which made this hard), Peter had transformed and scuttled away and Crouch with a bunch of aurors were dragging him off.

He was never given a trial. He never even saw a Ministry holding cell. It was straight to Azkaban with his wand snapped, no questions asked. An obvious Death Eater. He was a Black, after all.

Twelve years later the photo in the Daily Prophet, showing the Weasley family in Egypt with Pettigrew's rat form on the shoulder of the youngest boy, had driven Sirius Black out of his depression and into action.

But before he went after Wormtail, Padfoot wanted to find his godson. He had failed him all those years ago, now he wanted to make sure Harry was alright.

But Harry wasn't at the Dursleys. Thank goodness. Petunia hated her sister.

Maybe he was with the Weasleys? They were good people, and strong Light supporters. Perhaps Dumbledore had left Harry with them.

So the scraggly thin black dog transformed into an equally scraggly thin black-haired man, and apparated to Ottery St Catchpole in search of his godson.

Harry:

The morning before he and Luna had to return to Atlantis for the last third of the year, Harry got up early and went out to see the sunrise. Neither Luna nor Mr. Lovegood were awake yet. But that was okay. Harry was an early riser usually, a habit drilled in to him by Aunt Petunia from an early age.

He wasn't expecting to see a large bedraggled black dog bound out of the woods and act like he was its best friend though.

After getting slobbered on by the overeager mutt, Harry wiped off his face as the dog whimpered at him, snuffling its cold nose all over as if checking to see he was okay.

"Eew! Dog drool! Okay okay big guy, sit!"

Amazingly, the dog sat.

"Er, stay. Good boy. Shake?"

It shook.

Harry scratched him behind the ears.

"Huh, you seem way too well trained to be a stray. But you certainly look like one! Are you abandoned then?"

The dog barked, and panted with its tongue lolling out. Harry couldn't help but laugh. "I'll take that as a yes. Come on, let's get you cleaned up. I think I know a few cleaning and grooming spells that ought to work at least a little… then we'll go find you something to eat."

The dog seemed more interested in the prospect of food, but sat mostly still while Harry worked on his coat.

By the end of the day Harry and Luna had both fallen in love with the dog, who certainly cleaned up well and had momentarily scared Mr. Lovegood that morning into screaming something about a grim. Harry dubbed him "Baskervilles" after the ghost-hound of the Sherlock Holmes story, and when he and Luna returned to Atlantis, Baskervilles went with them.

* * *

**Author's Note: **Sirius may have escaped a few weeks earlier than in canon here. The book never says when exactly he escapes, but it is certainly before August. I suppose it could have been sometime July. Oh well, it's a fanfic. Let's just say the Weasleys won their trip to Egypt right as school let out in June coinciding with the Atlantis Midsummer week-long break and Sirius escaped halfway through the week. See? It all works out!

I will continue taking votes and suggestions on what happens to Draco, though I believe it has now been establish that he will not actually become a Death Eater, whatever else he becomes. It has been suggested that he grow up at some point and realize his father's prejudices may not be right… this is certainly an option but the votes for Annoying Git are still the majority. He's not a main character in this story so it hardly matters as much as other characters.

I'm still taking votes on what happens to Snape. The Death Eater and Slytherin Solutions were my original options. I had added in a Gryffindor Solution (the canon-like sacrifice) and was planning a Hufflepuff Solution, and then I actually got votes for them! While I have yet to come up with a good Ravenclaw Solution (cookies for the first to come up with a viable Ravenclaw option), one imaginative reviewer suggested what I've dubbed "Neville's Solution" and I just had to add it in! At the time this chapter is posted, votes are as follows:

**Edit:** I got a few Ravenclaw suggestions and have added my favorites to the poll. See the end!

**9 votes for:** Snivellus dies in agony like the treacherous Death Eater he is.

-- _1 vote by __**Meteoricshipyards**__ was for Snape being "Evil, but loyal to Dumbledore due to an oath he swore after he heard the prophecy and felt that Voldie would fail…. So yes he must die." Amusing, but a rather complicated sub-plot. That fits here fairly well, so I counted it as a Death Eater vote._

**9 votes for:** Snape eventually gets rid of the Dark Mark and quits spying. Free of obligations to both sides, he doesn't win any rewards for Most Improved Character or Everyone's Favorite Teacher, but at least he doesn't die. A true Slytherin, loyal foremost to himself.

**2 votes for:** Snape is a loyal spy for the Light and eventually dies anyway, heroically sacrificing his life for The Greater Good. Very Gryffindor of him.

_-- Actually the 1__st__ vote by __**CyberDragonEX**__ was for Snape to "become sick of Dumbledore's control and attempt to off the darkmuncher himself, or at least weaken him and make him easier to off later." I think that counts as a sacrifice for the Light, as I don't expect him to survive the attempt. The 2__nd__ vote really _was_ for a heroic Gryffindorish sacrifice._

**2 votes for: **Severus is wholly redeemed and becomes a happy benevolent soul helping children and small animals with a smile. Sort of. You could call this the Hufflepuff Happy Ending.

-- _I got 1 vote for Snape being "the good person" which was vague enough to fit this category. The second vote was also vague but mentioned him being redeemed, and from the wording I thought it fit better here than the Slytherin option. The Slytherin option, after all, doesn't try to redeem his personality it just frees him of his obligations._

_-- There was a suggestion that Snape be Harry's biological father or maternal uncle. Not gonna happen. I like a good Snape-is-Harry's-relative-and/or-mentor fanfic, but that subplot just doesn't fit in this story. Snape's not really a main character, at least according to what I have planned so far, so his fate doesn't really affect Harry as much as a mentor/father-figure would._

**1 vote for:** "Neville's calming potion explodes in Snape's face, horribly disfiguring and blinding him, making him useless." We'll have to let him live, because he'll suffer more that way. Maybe he'll lose his left arm, therefore ridding him of the Mark but also detracting from his brewing abilities. Neville's Solution!

-- _Cookies for __**novastorm76**__ for this suggestion!_

_**Death Eater and Slytherin were my two favorite options until Neville here came along and blew up his potion in Snape's face. That's so deliciously karmic! I may have to use it before Snape's ultimate fate, just to see Neville triumph.**_

Ravenclaw Solutions: Cookies to the following reviewers for your Ravenclaw suggestions! This alternative is also open to voting.

1 vote for:_ TalonStrike__ suggested a variant on the Neville's Solution for a Ravenclaw alternative._ To paraphrase: Due to an accident involving Neville and a misbrewed calming potion Snape loses his arm, thereby removing his Dark Mark and his ability to brew. Snape must become a true master of his craft and take on apprentices to aid him in his new line of work as a contracted potions supplier for St Mungo's and the Ministry. Neville becomes one of his main potions ingredients supplier in later years as his innate ability with plants means his ingredients are the most potent. Snape spends the rest of his life researching new potions with the aid of his apprentices (who probably become employees after finishing their apprenticeships) and survives on their labor to produce the potions he sells (possibly this means he opens a shop and/or apothecary)._ (This one I really like! Especially since it fits so well with Neville's Solution, which I will probably end up using in some form or other.)_

**Honorable Mention for:** _Oraman Asturi suggested a Ravenclaw alternative that involved Snape milking Voldie and Dumbles for all their knowledge Dark and Light and using it against them, including an amusing attack on Dumbledore's lemon drops, while extorting money for himself. (Entirely too complicated a sub-plot in this story, probably not one I would use, but I'd love to see it in its own fanfic! Also it seems like a Slytherin way of handling the Gryffindor Solution – striking back without the sacrifice. Also Dumbles is portrayed as manipulative and/or evil, which he isn't in my story. Very imaginative though!)_

**Happy New Year everyone!**


	16. The Dog That Followed Him Home

_**Disclaimer:**_I do not own Harry Potter franchise, the series belongs to JKRowling. Pure unpaid fanfictions here.

**Spread Your Wings**

_**By Ebona Nite**_

**Chapter Sixteen: The Dog That Followed Him Home**

* * *

Harry, Luna, and Baskervilles stepped through the white stone arch that led from Wales to Atlantis. The golden glow on the arch died down, but the dog continued to glow faintly.

Harry frowned. "Luna, does Baskervilles look like he's glowing to you too?"

"Oh he always did," Luna said calmly, "That's why I thought he was a magical dog."

Harry looked surprised. "Is that how all magical beings and creatures look to you?"

"Oh yes. It's the aura Sight."

"Must give you a headache."

"I'm used to it. Plus it's great for seeing in the dark!"

Harry laughed. "Well why don't we –" He never finished, as three men in dark grey uniforms suddenly appeared. "Atlantis Gate Patrol. The wards alerted us to an unscheduled unregistered sophont entry here. You two scan as registered students, who is this you have with you? And do you care to explain why you brought him in without alerting the registry office you had a visitor?"

Baskervilles looked like he might bolt, so Harry grabbed the collar Luna's father had conjured for him. The big black dog pressed into his side, still looking nervous.

"This is the Baskervilles, the dog I got Outside. By "sophont" you mean sentient being, right? I thought he was just an ordinary dog – although Luna thinks he's a magical breed."

"Well he is definitely sentient, or our wards wouldn't pick him up." The officer said, aiming his fist at Baskervilles. Harry noticed he was wearing a ring with a flat square-ish garnet – probably the man's focus. "Either he's a fae – though I've only heard of wolf fae, not dog fae – or he's an animagus. Sir, I suggest you return to your natural form and cooperate." This last part was directed at the dog.

Baskervilles whined, then pulled away from Harry. The black dog morphed into a skinny, black-hired man with haunted grey eyes. "Alright, alright, I surrender. But please, could you give me a trial here instead of sending me back? Damn Ministry never gave me one and they'd rather throw me to the dementors on sight than give me veritisserum."

Harry gaped in shock. Luna looked dreamy and somewhat unfocused, which was her own way of showing upset. The Gate Patrol officer frowned. "We'll see about that. Name?"

"Sirius Black… er," he turned to Harry. "This would probably be a bad time to mention I'm your godfather Harry. I'm sorry about the deception, but I wanted to make sure you were okay, and I didn't want to reveal myself and be sent back to Azkaban."

"Hey – you're the guy who escaped from Azkaban! You gave my parents to Voldemort!" Harry was angry – but also confused. He trusted his instincts about people as they were usually right, and right now his instincts said to trust this man.

"I did not!" Sirius yelped, "I –"

"That's enough." The Patrol officer stepped forward, "I'm Officer Mike Daniels, by the way. Mr. Black, since you have claimed connection to a student and also claimed to have never been given a trial in your home country, you'll be given a fair trial here. You understand you will submit to whatever sentencing _we_ give you should you be found guilty." It was a statement rather than a question, but Sirius nodded. "Very well, come with me." Sirius suddenly found himself unable to resist, had he wanted to. "Travis," Officer Daniels turned to one of the other two men, "go find whatever records the English Ministry has on Black here." Travis nodded and disappeared. Sirius snorted – he knew there were no records, just rumors.

Harry demanded to come, but Daniels told him that Sirius was going straight to a holding cell for now. "You'll receive notice for his trial however, and permission to take class time off to attend. It should only be a couple of days wait though."

"Alright." Harry looked thoughtfully at his newly discovered godfather. "See you then… come on Luna, we need to make sure we have all our supplies for school tomorrow."

xXxXxXx

Sirius Black's trial, held three days later, was fairly quick. Harry attended, and found it was somewhat different than the process from the Outside mundane society he was used to. Because there were spells and potions that ensured truth, trials in magical communities were much faster and efficient, without the ability for lying (despite oaths not to lie, it was still a possibility in the mundane world after all).

At least, they were fast and efficient when the defendant was actually given a trial. As Officer Travis had quickly discovered, there were no records of a trial in the British Ministry, though there were records of his sentencing and plenty of current news coverage of his escape.

Sirius was quickly enspelled with truth spells, which unlike veritisserum didn't compel the truth, but would set a white cloud above his head to turn black if he lied and to turn grey if he told the truth but left out things that might be needed.

Sirius had no problem telling the complete truth of course.

Within an hour, Sirius Black was set free and reunited with his godfather. The Atlantis authorities sent a copy of the trial records, exonerating Sirius and highlighting the fact that Peter Pettigrew was not only guilty of being the Potters' Secret Keeper who gave the Potters to Voldemort, but also of killing thirteen "muggles" and framing Sirius Black.

Luckily it was Amelia Bones, Head of the DMLE, who received the records rather than Minister Fudge's Undersecretary Delores Umbridge. The _Daily Prophet_ ran specials while Fudge tried to keep up for the rest of the month.

Meanwhile, Sirius settled into Atlantis life fairly quickly. Harry, who had already declared he wanted to keep his citizenship permanent, immediately declared Sirius family, and which got his godfather citizenship after successful screening tests. For the time being both kept their British citizenship as well, in case they ever felt the need to go back in later years. Besides, according to Sirius both the Black and Potter families had plenty of land, housing, and business holdings in Britain and certain parts of Europe, which would have to be liquefied for the most part if they left behind their citizenships, and Harry wanted to see these places before decided whether or not to get rid of them.

Harry introduced Luna, whom Sirius immediately was taken to, and the rest of his friends. After a brief mild shock of meeting a vampire and a centaur who were both friendly, Sirius welcomed them as only a man who never grew up could.

Meaning he pumped Orlando for the location of the nearest joke shop and began a prank war.

xXxXxXx

The next Sunday Harry and Sirius went to the Gringotts branch to check on their families' finances, plus Sirius said something about updating his Will. Harry had a bit of a shock in finding out that Griphook, as the Potter Family account manager, had transferred there merely because he was now living the majority of the year on Atlantis for the next several years at least. But according to Griphook, this was so that Harry could have easier access to his account manager.

Then the goblin went on to lightly admonish the wizard for not coming in to check on his finances sooner.

It took a total of three hours for Harry and Sirius to finish there, though more than half that time was Sirius learning of his mother's death, assuming Lordship of the Black Family, rewriting his Will (he wouldn't show it to Harry though), and changing a lot of the Black finances around so that he was no longer the financial backer of "what seems like half of Knockturn Ally" (according to Sirius).

Sirius then set about finding a small pre-furnished house for himself with three or four bedrooms ("one for me, one for you when you want to escape the dorms, and at least one guest room!"), so that he didn't have to sleep in his animagus form at the foot of Harry's bed any longer.

This took him another couple of days, house-hunting while Harry attended classes.

Third Year was not only the first year of electives; it was also the year Harry's transfiguration class began researching the animagus transformation. They were all warned not to attempt anything without supervision. First came meditation in order to reach their innermost selves where the animagus form (or primary form, for certain students such as lycanthropes and animal fae) resided. Once they "contacted," as the teacher called it, the "form of their soul" they could begin to discern what type of animal it would be.

The meditation just to find the form was expected to take at least all of the first trimester and possibly the second as well. After they found it they had to research the animal completely – provided it was not already part of them like for the lycanthropes, fae, and shifting-hybrids like veela and selkies. Those who already had a primary animal form had to learn to look past the form for other forms. This tended to be excruciatingly hard, especially for fae, and most of the races opted not to do the animagus training at all and just stick with what they already had. Those who were half-human half-animal – the centaurs, sphinxes, and harpies – didn't have an animagus ability due to their nature and took different transfiguration courses designed for their physical and magical capability differences.

The actual transformation training did not start until the next year. Anyone caught attempting it early, without professional supervision, would automatically fail the class. According to Orlando only a couple people did on average every year and they were always caught. Normally it was those who had been born on Atlantis too, possibly he theorized because they felt no additional privilege to be accepted to the Academy unlike the minority of Outsiders for whom it was both a privilege and a great honor and therefore they were less likely to screw it up by doing stupid things they had been warned against.

Orlando had been disappearing as of late, and Harry finally confronted him on it during breakfast one day, about six weeks into the school year.

"Say Orlando, where have you been lately? You keep disappearing on us, especially on Sundays when we have some time to mess around!"

"Yeah Orly, spill!" Was Chad's contribution. Amber whacked him over the head for talking with his mouth full of bacon. "Sheez dingo-boy, manners! But seriously Orlando, whatcha been up ta lately?"

Orlando looked sheepish. "Sorry guys, I guess I forgot to tell you. My mother asked me to show around a new student. She's from England actually, Mom and her mother were friends before her mother left Atlantis, and now Mom's friend got her daughter a place after some troubles with the girl's old school."

Chad eyed him suspiciously, "And… does this new girl have a name? Seriously mate, we usually can't get ya ta shut up when ya've gotta project, and now you're doing a clam impression!"

Amber bayed with laughter as Orlando blushed. "Aw, does the vampy have a girlfriend?"

"NO! Ew! Her name's Blaise, okay? Blaise Zabini. She's in ISD-2, the Scorpions dorm. I've been showing her around. _Morrigan_ you guys are creeps."

They laughed, and Orlando promised to introduce them finally the next Sunday.

xXxXxXx

Blaise had found Atlantis intriguing, intimidating, and somewhat lonely. Coming in to Third Year only a little behind in her classes (except for the magical defense class, which she was abysmal at due to the two years of horrible DADA teachers at Hogwarts), she at first had thought she'd be able to it in fairly well, and then found the fast paced classes gave her no time to catch up at all.

Luckily, there as her mother's friend's son, Orlando Araceli, whose mother had not only browbeaten into becoming her guide but also had volunteered to tutor her when she needed help. And she did indeed need help. But tutoring on the top of homework on the top of classes left her with little enough time to sleep, much less relax.

After about six weeks of slowly going crazy, Orlando suddenly asked if she'd like to meet his friends.

"They're all from my own dorm of course. Normally we spend time together in study sessions during the week and scheduling fun time when we can. They'd like to meet you. And our classes are mostly the same, though you've got a slightly different schedule, so maybe we can do some studying in a group?"

"I guess. I'm about to go stir crazy anyway, a study group instead of one-on-one tutoring does sound more fun. No offence."

"None taken."

So Blaise was introduced to the gang. It took her a week to realize Harry was Harry Potter the Boy-Who-Lived and disappeared two years before. To her credit, she only gaped a moment before giving him a mock contemptuous look and telling him he was shorter than she'd expected.

Blaise and Luna broke down in giggles while Amber, Chad, and Orlando outright laughed at Harry's pout.

Blaise didn't know it, but it was actually this incident that garnered her acceptance from the group of friends.

When December finally came around, Blaise was surprised to find that she'd not only relaxed but was also mostly caught up in her classes. Even more surprising, she actually had some real friends at last!

Sure, they weren't in her own dorm. The Scorpions dorm had several vampires and elves, a cheetah-fae, three wolf-fae several fae she swore must be of some sort of flowering bush, and a half dozen goblins, but the rest were sphinxes and centaurs. She was the only human, a new-comer, and the others already had friends. Orlando had been a lifeline in those first few weeks though she hadn't realized it at the time, and he and his friends accepting her into their group was the best thing that had ever happened to her. She spent half her free time at the Thunderbirds dorm, and it actually felt more like home than the Scorpions dorm.

Now it was nearly time for Midwinter break. She couldn't wait to visit her mother and tell her about her new friends!

xXxXxXx

It was the best Yule Harry could ever remember having. The last two years were great, he'd had friends to visit and mess around with and go shopping for, he even had money of his own to shop with! But nothing beat having actual family. Sirius was both his godfather and the first true father-figure Harry could remember having. Although he was more like a (much) older brother than a father. Harry couldn't think of him as an honorary uncle after having Vernon Dursley as his uncle for ten years.

Sirius took him off the Island after exchanging Yule gifts with his friends. They were off to tour the Potter properties. Luna, Blaise, Amber, and Chad were all going home for the break as well, so he promised to owl them (Hedwig looked enthusiastic at this promise of post), and Orlando gave him some charmed stationary and envelopes so they could exchange letters as well.

First stop was Godric's Hollow. It was the sight of Voldemort's defeat – and James and Lily's deaths. Sirius told him to expect the place in shambles, though the books, heirlooms, paintings, and majority of other things besides furniture had been enchanted to return to the Potter Family Vaults should the residents die. Since Harry, the only survivor, had been too young to make use of anything the enspelled property would relocate to the Vaults automatically even though he hadn't died with his parents.

So the two of them expected the caved-in, burned out shell of a cottage.

They didn't expect the statue, magical non-burning green flames, and Ministry-sanctioned tourist attraction on the Potter family private property.

xXxXxXx

After a quick trip to Gringotts to hire some curse-breakers and a consultant, and a brief argument of what to do with the statue (Sirius argued it was a blatant disregard of civil rights and privacy, and should be destroyed in protest, while Harry argued it was the first he'd ever seen his parents' faces and should stand in tribute to their deaths – though they'd have to change the inscription which downplayed their deaths), they finally agreed to get the continuous-fire spell and the Ministry wards removed and the property, including the private family graveyard at the back, rewarded with basic family spells to start with.

Having done that, Sirius insisted on setting up a _fidelis_ with himself as Secret Keeper, an ironic move which would also spite the Ministry who had sanctioned the monument in the first place. Harry was none loathe, since it would keep irritating tourists from interrupting the rebuilding. The consultant, a goblin named Irontooth, was keyed in as well with instructions to gather whoever was needed for reconstruction and remodeling for Sirius to key in later after their plans had been approved and payment could be agreed upon.

Irontooth assured them it could all be done b the first of the New Year, though the original spells to expand the inside of the cottage to "reasonable" interior space (meaning it would be a two-story cottage on the outside and a small manor house on the inside) would be tricky and would probably take longer.

Harry thanked him, and then he and Sirius headed for Sirius's old home, Number 12 Grimmauld Place in London, taking the statue of James, Lily, Baby Harry, and the Dark Lord, with them.

"It's a dark and dismal place, probably infested with who know what. It'll need tons of remodeling. At least the statue can keep the portrait of my mother company. Old hag screamed at me all the time when she was alive, her painting probably will too."

"Why don't you take it down then Sirius?"

"Can't. It's permanently stuck to the wall. All the family portraits are. And so are the row of house-elf heads in the hallway."

Harry grimaced. "Well take the wall down then, you said you needed to remodel right?"

Sirius blinked at him, and then grinned. "Kid, you're a genius! I'll have to Floo Irontooth back."

That week was interesting. Remodeling and cleaning in Grimmauld Place didn't take that long, thanks to the wonders of magic. Sirius began to lose the haunted look in his eyes as the house got cleaner and brighter, and the walls were repainted cream and pale blue with cream carpeting.

Sirius was surprised to find Kreacher, the old house-elf (Sirius still wasn't used to calling them brownies), was still alive. He ordered him to bring everything he'd hidden away to him and then sent the unhinged brownie to work for his cousin Narcissa Malfoy, with orders never to return to Grimmauld Place.

The ex-convict went through the small pile of Black Family heirlooms and miscellaneous brick-a-brack that Kreacher had left at his feet. Most of was cursed. All of it was junk that Sirius didn't want, but also didn't want other people getting their hands on. So instead of selling it to a pawn shop, he levitated it out into the backyard and used the strongest fire spells he knew on them until he'd burnt everything up and melted what didn't burn into a pile of slag. Then he buried everything in a corner under some wilting nettles.

A gold locket with a snake motif and an embossed double S emitted a long wail and the biting teacups shrieked as they melted.

xXxXxXx

Harry had sent Luna a book of healing spells for Yule. Amber received a set of beginner archeological tools. Chad got a bunch of chocolate for his sweet tooth. Orlando got a gift certificate to his favorite bookstore on Atlantis. Harry hadn't known exactly what to get Blaise, so she also got some chocolate though a wider selection of different sweets. He didn't get Sirius anything, having no clue what the man would like. But Sirius said it was okay, he already had his freedom and guardianship of Harry, so there was nothing else he needed for Christmas.

Harry received a book called The Monster Book of Monsters from Luna, with the instruction to stroke its spine. Sirius missed the memo and got bitten, whereupon he drop the book with a curse, and the Monster book attached itself to his left shoe.

Harry spent the next half hour laughing as Sirius tried half a dozen ways to get it off and then once successful spent five minutes running away from it before remembering he was a wizard and banishing it into a bookshelf.

Harry was laughing so hard he was crying, and fell of his chair.

Sirius pouted at him.

From Orlando he received a book of Atlantis historical stories and myths, that had a large section on Celestials in the back. Amber gave him "an authentic Texan cowboy hat" and Chad got him chocolate as well. Blaise had sent him a journal with privacy spells that could be keyed to a password set by him.

Sirius had snuck out one day during the housecleaning and splurged in Diagon Ally (it helped to have his name cleared at last, though it had taken the Ministry nearly until December to get around to it). Harry opened his present from his godfather to find a brand new Firebolt broom, built for racing and the aerial acrobatics of Seeker moves. He fell in love with it immediately.

xXxXxXx

Two days after Christmas, with Grimmauld Place finally cleaned up and the front hallway's walls removed (and thus Mrs. Black's portrait and the house-elf heads were history), Sirius decided it was time to introduce Harry to the rest of his family's legacy.

"Okay pup, time for a short family history lesson! You listening?"

"Yeah, I'm listening Sirius," Harry said, pulling his attention out of the Monster Book of Monsters.

"Okay, so…. All pureblood families have, or had, a manor house. Some of the oldest can even boast a castle. Some of the manors and castles have been lost, destroyed, or sold over the years due to financial troubles or war or whatnot. The Potter family is a bit different.

"A few generations back your great-great-grandfather was nuts about magical creatures, especially rare, imported, or endangered ones. So he had the Potter Manor remodeled, and relocated his family to their small vacation cottage in Wales. The cottage in Godric's Hollow was magically expanded on the inside, but ever rebuilt to look impressive on the outside. Pureblood families everywhere, especially ones like the Black and Malfoys, thought he was crazy.

"The Potter Manor and its hundred acres of land were set up as a preserve. Different parts of the lands have been spelled and warded to become different types of habitats for creatures all over the world. Different climate, terrains, etc. The Manor itself can still be lived in, but most of it is greenhousey for birds and tropical animals.

"The Potter Preserve actually became quite famous after several decades. I think it's the first example of a zoo in magical Europe, except of course there are no visitors allowed save for those the Potter family members allow inside personally. There's a whole team of house-el-er brownies specifically trained to take care of the place. I figured you might want to spend the rest of the break there, checking out all the animals and stuff."

Throughout Sirius's explanation Harry's eyes had slowly gone wider and wider. The Potter Preserve sounded like a paradise! Rare, exotic, and endangered animals everywhere! Maybe they even had snidgets?!

xXxXxXx

The Potter Preserve was more than Harry imagined. It was home to many magical creatures, some even thought extinct. There were indeed golden snidgets, as well as magical snakes, a herd of unicorns, a head of black unicorns which were supposedly extinct, a small group of dragons of several different breeds, several wild phoenixes and other breeds of magical birds, a rather large population of firecrabs which apparently were so rare that it was thought there were less than ten world-wide (not counting the Potter Preserve and Atlantis), and quite a few other rare and exotic creatures.

And according to the head brownie Harry's great-great-grandfather's wife had added a large garden of rare magical herbs and plants, several of which were also thought extinct by now and which potions masters and herbologists everywhere would give their left arms for. There was also a mated pair of thunderbirds nesting somewhere on the property, which were indigenous to North America and nearly extinct.

Harry had an absolutely fantastic time touring the Preserve. He had enlightening conversations with a runespoor – or was that three? – which completely freaked Sirius out for a time, and fell in love with an occamy with an acidic wit and dry sense of humor. The Cerberus was rather intimidating but loved to play fetch. Harry stayed away from the Nundu and Grim enclosures, but he gave Sirius a heart attack getting up close and personal with a Chinese Fireball dragon. Apparently he could speak to dragons as well as long as he concentrated – they spoke a dialect of parseltongue and told him he had a rather thick accept.

The creatures Harry truly wished he could bring to Atlantis with him were three particular birds. One was a female Golden Snidget he named Jewel, who had immediately taken a liking to him and would come sit on his shoulder or wrist. He'd often peel grapes and feed them to her at breakfast. She loved to play dodge and tag with him in the afternoons as he flew around on his Firebolt.

The other two were a mated pair of diricawls, which mundanes had named dodos and thought were extinct because of their ability to go invisible when spooked (though they were certainly endangered), that haunted the inside of the Manor. He named the female Shy Violet, or just Violet for short. She was incredibly shy of anyone and everything except, oddly enough, Harry, and would huddle in his lap in the evenings as he read. Provided Sirius or any of the brownies didn't show up. She was a mottled brown and grey in color and slightly larger of the pair.

The other diricawl was a solid grey male Harry called Nook, after his rather odd habit of hiding invisibly in nooks and crannies, particularly in shadowy hallways, and jumping out at people as they walked by. Sirius was forever being spooked and had taken to peering into corners before he walked by them. Violet, shy about everything else, would henpeck Nook mercilessly especially if he ever jumped out at Harry.

Nook retaliated by teleporting himself into Harry's cereal bowl in the mornings and then teleporting away before Violet could reprimand him, leaving Harry covered in milk and cereal and Sirius laughing his head off.

At least, Harry called it teleporting. It wasn't wizard's apparition obviously and it wasn't exactly like brownies' way of popping in and out of places. The books he'd read handed mentioned the ability, and Violet didn't do it, but then again Diricawls were notoriously hard to study due to their shy nature so maybe it just hadn't been something that had been observed before.

During the week Harry and Sirius spent on the Potter Preserve, Harry found that all the animals responded favorably to him. Sometimes, he could swear he even felt what they were feeling! A lot of times he could guess what they wanted, such as Jewel preferring grapes to other fruits and knowing when Nook was waiting to jump out at him. When he mentioned it to Sirius, the animagus suggested Harry might be a beast-empath.

It was at least the third time this had been suggested to him now, so Harry began to pay much closer attention to these feelings he was picking up. And indeed with focus it seemed he might really be developing a certain type of empathy with animals. He always felt closest to birds and snakes though, along with dragons which were an ancestral cross between the two species.

These observations made for an interesting series of letters between him, Luna, and Orlando, and promised a lot of research and testing once he got back to the Academy on January Third.

xXxXxXx

The two weeks break from the Academy finally over, Harry and Sirius headed back to Atlantis. As the New Year was welcomed in across the world, people made resolutions, celebrated with families, and welcomed the changes to come.

In some places, changes had already been made.

_**Ministry Atrium Statue Switched!**_

_By Rita Skeeter_

_The morning of the First of the New Year, Ministry of Magic employees and visitors found a startling change to the scenery in the Ministry Atrium. The statue in the middle of the court, once a beautiful work of art portraying a witch and wizard with their magical brethren, a centaur, a goblin, and a house-elf, gathered around them in friendship, has been replaced. In its place stands the Potter Memorial statue, once standing on site of the defeat of You-Know-Who, portraying James and Lily Potter facing off against the dreaded Dark Lord, Mrs. Potter holding the infant Boy-Who-Lived in her arms._

_It has been noted that the inscription at the base of the statue was changed upon its removal from the Potter Family Home Memorial. Where once it read "On October 31, 1981 Harry James Potter the Boy-Who-Lived defeated the Dark Lord You-Know-Who." it now reads "On October 31, 1981 James and Lily Potter gave up their lives in the fight against the Dark Lord [You-Know-Who]. Their brave sacrifice aided in his downfall. Their memory shall live on." (this reporter notes that the inscription gives the Dark Lord's name, and so far aurors and curse-breakers have been unable to change it)._

_Many Ministry workers are confused though not alarmed by this change. Arthur Weasely, head of the Department of Misuse of Muggle Articles, commented "I don't see a problem with it, the old statue was ghastly anyway, what with all the magical brethren so tiny and happy-looking – you never see a goblin smile like that in real life! – and the witch and wizard looming over everyone… I saw it and thought the Ministry had decided on a change. I think it's heartwarming. I don't know what everyone is so upset about."_

_Not everyone is so casual. One visitor, Lucius Malfoy, had this to say: "It's absolutely appalling! Why would anyone sneak in under cover of night and switch the wonderfully historic Statue of Magical Brethren with this –! That is, the memorial statue should stay on site of the memorial." Just where the Potter memorial is, exactly, no one can quite say. Which is frankly disturbing, as many can remember visiting the place. The Ministry of Magic is in an uproar over what one anonymous auror called "a disturbing prank" and Minister of Magic Cornelius Fudge declined to comment. _

_What happened to the original statue so far remains unknown._

* * *

**Author's Note: **A note on canon plot-twists: There will be seven horcruxes, though a couple may be changed and the order of discovery/destruction will certainly be different (as you can already tell). There will be no Deathly Hallows, but the story of the Three Brothers still exists and there are those who believe the DHs exist (like Luna's father). It's only a myth in this story however. Also, if anyone notices discrepancies or mistakes in Rita Skeeter's article please blame it on Rita Skeeter and not me. She is more focused on rumor mongering than facts. Or spelling. (in other words, mistakes in the article are on purpose)

The Snape's Fate poll continues. I may end up combining one or two of the Solutions depending on how the storyline goes when I finally get to Snape. If you would like to change your vote, let me know when you review what your old vote was and what you are changing it to. That way I can keep it accurate and anyone who voted for an original solution before I put up the newer ones doesn't get stuck wishing they'd waited to vote.

**9 votes for:** Snivellus dies in agony like the treacherous Death Eater he is.

**11 votes for:** Snape eventually gets rid of the Dark Mark and quits spying. Free of obligations to both sides, he doesn't win any rewards for Most Improved Character or Everyone's Favorite Teacher, but at least he doesn't die. A true Slytherin, loyal foremost to himself.

**2 votes for:** Snape is a loyal spy for the Light and eventually dies anyway, heroically sacrificing his life for The Greater Good. Very Gryffindor of him.

**2 votes for: **Severus is wholly redeemed and becomes a happy benevolent soul helping children and small animals with a smile. Sort of. You could call this the Hufflepuff Happy Ending.

**12 votes for:** "Neville's calming potion explodes in Snape's face, horribly disfiguring and blinding him, making him useless." We'll have to let him live, because he'll suffer more that way. Maybe he'll lose his left arm, therefore ridding him of the Mark but also detracting from his brewing abilities. Neville's Solution! _Cookies to__** novastorm76 **__for a unique and imaginative solution!_

**2 votes for:**_** TalonStrike's **__Ravenclaw Alternative __**–**_a variant on the Neville's Solution. To paraphrase: Due to an accident involving Neville and a misbrewed calming potion Snape loses his arm, thereby removing his Dark Mark and his ability to brew. Snape must become a true master of his craft and take on apprentices to aid him in his new line of work as a contracted potions supplier for St Mungo's and the Ministry. Neville becomes one of his main potions ingredients suppliers in later years as his innate ability with plants means his ingredients are the most potent. Snape spends the rest of his life researching new potions with the aid of his apprentices (who probably become employees after finishing their apprenticeships) and survives on their labor to produce the potions he sells (possibly this means he opens a shop and/or apothecary).


	17. Neville's Triumph Snape's MidLife Crisis

_**Disclaimer: **__I don't own Harry Potter, JKRowling owns that franchise. I'm just a poor unpaid fanfic author!_

**Spread Your Wings**

_**By Ebona Nite**_

**Chapter Seventeen: Neville's Triumph and Snape's Mid-Life Crisis**

* * *

Hermione:

Hermione was returning for her third year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry with some trepidation. Her first year she had been nearly shunned for being a muggleborn know-it-all, but managed to make friends with Lisa Turpin and Padma Patil, two of her dorm mates in Ravenclaw. In second year she had missed nearly half the year being petrified by a rogue basilisk and, worse, had been excused from exams.

Then over the last summer Ron Weasley's mother, Molly Weasley, had owled her to ask if she wouldn't mind tutoring her youngest son, who had nearly failed half his classes for two years running. She didn't know why she had been chosen since she still had a lot of catching up to do as well as the muggle subjects her parents insisted she keep up on, but in the end had agreed, since tutoring Ron would allow her to go over the material she needed to review anyway. Later, she found out it was because the other students Molly had contacted had all been on vacation or had refused for one reason or another.

At any rate, she and Ron had developed an odd sort of half-friendship over the summer months. She wondered if it would keep up when school came back in session.

This year meant electives. At first, she wanted to take everything. She was sure something could be worked out in regards to the timing; after all, magic could do just about anything right? But her parents had convinced her she didn't need Muggle Studies, and might as well keep up with muggle subjects instead, and after listening to Ron and his brothers talk about Divination and Professor Trelawney, she decided she didn't want to take that either. She almost took Care of Magical Creatures, but after some thinking (and lists of pros and cons), decided she didn't like animals quite so much as to spend several years studying them.

Instead, she chose just Ancient Runes and Arithmancy, and finally gave in to her parents and agreed to take along textbooks for algebra, biology, muggle history, and classic literature including Shakespeare, Milton, and Kipling. Her parents were overjoyed.

Maybe nothing untoward would happen this year.

The dementors on the train were not a promising start to the new school year. Luckily, she, Lisa, and Padma had been sitting in the compartment with the new DADA teacher. Even more fortunate, Professor Lupin seemed to be competent.

xXxXxXx

Dumbledore:

Dumbledore was not at all happy about the Minister's decision to send the Azkaban dementors to patrol Hogwarts. Honestly, why on earth would escaped convict Sirius Black come to the school? It wasn't like Harry Potter attended. Then again, Cornelius Fudge insisted that being locked up in Azkaban for ten years, Black had no way of knowing this.

He conveniently forgot to mention that he often made routine visits to "check the security" and a startlingly sane Black would always ask for the latest Daily Prophet, "for the crosswords" apparently, and the Prophet had been running regular "Where On Earth Is Harry Potter?" articles for two years now.

Not only was Dumbledore unhappy about having soul-suckers in a school for children, he was furious when they attacked students on the train for no reason. Luckily Remus Lupin had been there.

Four days into the new school year the Daily Prophet was suddenly running articles about Sirius Black being proclaimed innocent by the Atlantis community and being given sanctuary on the hidden island-continent. Fudge blustered. Amelia Bones harangued him. Dumbledore was called into three different Wizengamot meetings in a week.

It took until October before Fudge finally believed the Atlantis official trial documents. And then Kingsley's beleaguered auror team was sent out in search of Pettigrew, again with no clue where to start looking.

The whole situation did make Albus Dumbledore wonder though. Sirius Black had escaped Azkaban… only to turn up in Atlantis? How did he get there in the first place? How did he convince them to give him a trial instead of extraditing him back to the English Ministry? Why on earth (or where ever Atlantis was) was he staying, instead of moving to France or America, two of the many magical nations who believed the Atlantis records immediately and offered him free passage?

Dumbledore just had to wonder if maybe… just maybe… Sirius Black had found the elusive Harry Potter.

Fawkes remained silent and smug.

xXxXxXx

Neville:

Neville Longbottom had never been that good at potions.

At least for the last two years the Hufflepuffs had been paired with the Ravenclaws for that class, and Hermione Granger would often pair with him, which would at least prevent the cauldron from blowing up or melting, even if she wasn't always able to save the potion from complete disaster. Most of the time she could manage to make it passable as long as he only prepared the ingredients and refrained from putting anything in the potion or stirring it at all.

Now to his growing horror suddenly they were in class with the Slytherins. His fellow badger Susan Bones was nice enough to pair with him on hard potions – she was a competent brewer though like him she felt more at home in Herbology class – but unfortunately the Slytherins liked to sabotage potions now and then. And Professor Snape looked the other way, took points from the Hufflepuffs, and awarded points to the Slytherins.

Actually aside from the sabotage it wasn't much different from Potions with the Ravenclaws, come to think of it. Except Ravenclaws didn't usually gain points, they just never got any taken from them.

Then the second to last Potions class before Christmas break came. Later, staff dubbed it The Potions Incident, while students dubbed it Neville's Triumph.

Neville didn't feel very triumphant. But at least he never again had to take Potions with Professor Snape.

_Flashback:_

_The potion for the day was a Calming Potion. Neville and Susan were paired together. The potion was reaching its second to last stage. By now it should have been dark pink and simmering which would lighten to a soft rose upon completion. Neville and Susan's potion was a violent orange and seething._

_Professor Snape stalked over. Neville froze, one hand above the potion clutching beetles' eyes, and most of the class turned to watch ignoring their own potions._

"_Longbottom! Bones! Why is your potion orange? It looks about ready to explode – and Longbottom don't you dare drop those beetle eyes, that's twice the amount needed and would be absolutely volatile!" He raised his wand, preparing to vanish the potion. "Don't you two have any common sense? Even complete dunderheads such as yourselves should have already called for assist –"_

_Out of the corner of his eye, the Potions Master caught a movement from Draco Malfoy, and an instant later something splashed into the roiling orange potion._

_Susan, having seen Malfoy's arm moved, was already throwing up a shield around herself and Neville. Snape threw his left arm up over his eyes but wasn't fast enough to erect a barrier in front of himself._

_Then the potion exploded violently, and the screaming started._

_End Flashback._

Susan and Neville escaped damage though several other Hufflepuffs and a couple Slytherins ended up in the infirmary with minor acid burns that were expected to scar, or boils from their own exploded potions that they had forgotten about in favor of watching Snape come down on Neville and Susan. Professor Snape was not so lucky.

Potions was canceled for the remaining week before break as Snape was confined to the infirmary. Rumors ran rampant about what exactly had happened. Most of the Hufflepuffs had not seen Malfoy sabotage the potion so had attributed the explosion to Neville.

The majority of the Hufflepuffs and Gryffindors were congratulating Neville in the halls and celebrating Snape getting his comeuppance. Ravenclaws were mostly horrified at one for the teachers being injured and a class being canceled. It was a toss up which was more of a concern to them.

As for the Slithering, there had been a couple of witnesses to Malfoy's deed. The blonde boy was suddenly finding himself ostracized for the perceived attack on their Head of House.

At least, Neville mused to himself, he would never again be taught potions by Snape. The Potions Master had made it quite clear (thankfully sending word through the Headmaster, who owled his Gran, who owled him) that he was never to set foot inside his potions classroom again, and was instead to find a tutor who had both the skill and patience to put up with him long enough to drill the basics of brewing in his head.

Really, that would be safer for the both of them in the long run.

xXxXxXx

Snape:

After two years of putting up with the Slytherins and Gryffindors in the same potions class, Severus Snape simply couldn't take it any more. He was surprised he hadn't started getting grey hairs yet! The summer before the 1993 school year he's convinced the Headmaster – after much furious ranting – to change the schedule so he didn't have to put up with the two Houses attempting, and unfortunately often succeeding, in sabotaging each other's potions. Especially the class with the youngest Weasley boy and Draco.

He'd taken one look at the new schedule and nearly gone ballistic.

Granted having the Slytherins and Ravenclaws together would put most of his competent brewers in classes together, similarly to the NEWT classes that were generally made up almost entirely of those two Houses. But Gryffindor and Hufflepuff?

His classroom would never survive.

Finally Dumbledore relented and grouped the Gryffindors with the Ravenclaws, and the Slytherins with the Hufflepuffs hopefully the competent brewers would make up for the incompetents, and at least he could count on the Ravenclaws occasionally pairing up with the Gryffindors.

Unfortunately this put Draco and Longbottom in the same class. The worst brewer with the nastiest Slytherin… and of course this was the year Blaise Zabini, his best brewer in that year of students, was pulled out of Hogwarts.

In retrospect he _really_ should have seen it coming. But honestly, hadn't he given Draco enough lectures about subtlety yet?

It took him the two full weeks of Christmas beak to recover the use of his arm after The Incident, and he still did not have full mobility of his wrist and fingers. The only good thing that could be said of the entire situation was that he was right handed, and it had been his left arm that was… damaged.

When Longbottom's potion exploded, it had covered him but the worst damaged had been to his arm. Thank Merlin he had thought to shield his eyes or he may have been blinded!

He now had scarring on the lower half of his face, his neck, and a little down his chest though that part was covered by his clothing. His arm had a splattering up to his shoulder, but the corrosively acidic potion had eaten nearly all the flesh off his left forearm. The muscles and tendons had been damaged and Madam Pomfrey admitted that he may never have full mobility of his fingers and wrist again.

Worse, his pinky finger and the tip of his ring finger had been melted away entirely. Poppy had given him skelegrow to make sure that any damage to the bone was corrected, and then he was stuck in the infirmary for two weeks while his muscles and tendons were repaired and the flesh and skin regrown.

For a while he had wondered if the Dark Mark would be permanently erased. But as he sat stuck to the bed (Poppy had made certain he would not sneak off and only let him up when he needed to use to john, actually allowing him to walk over to the private bathroom attached to the infirmary since, after all, his legs were not affected), he could feel the foul magic writhing up and down his arm, waiting for the flesh to return so that it could re-establish itself. No, the Dark Mark would return with his skin. It was not just some tattoo, but an enchantment anchored in his magic. Severus had to wonder if any of the other Death Eaters realized how truly binding the Mark was.

Being stuck (literally) in the infirmary for two weeks, often in enough pain that he had trouble sleeping for more than three or four hours at night, gave Severus plenty of time to contemplate his life, his double role as a Death Eater and spy for the Order of the Phoenix, and most especially his position as potions professor.

For the longest time, he had favored his Slytherins even going so far as to turn a blind eye to their misdemeanors unless they were actually caught. He took a high amount of points from other Houses and liberally handed out detentions. He felt it only fair, as Slytherins were looked down on and singled out as troublemakers by the rest of the school. Also, it kept him in the good graces of the Slytherin students' parents, many of which were "former" Death Eaters.

But perhaps he was just doing more harm than good by letting his House get away with increasingly violent actions. Especially for those like his godson Draco, who had all the subtly of a Weasley.

The only real amusement he had during his forced stay was the New Year' news of the Ministry in an uproar of a statue, of all things. As nauseating as the Potter Memorial statue was, it was only a statue. Severus sneered. So much for the vaunted security of the Ministry of Magic building.

Returning to teaching was almost a relief, if only because he got out of the hospital wing. But he had his teaching methods to revise, which was going to take a lot of constant work. No more would he turn a blind eye to his Slytherins' misbehavior, not when it cost him his arm! They weren't going to get free rides in his class anymore.

However, Severus was determined to be meticulously fair. Everyone, including his Slytherins, would get exactly the grade they deserved for every single potion and essay, and unless it was perfect he refused to hand out an O. His Slytherins, he had to admit, had gotten lazy. They were going to hurt for it. Even if he had to actually take points until they learned the new order of things.

Of course this did not mean he was going to be _nice_. Ravenclaws he could probably leave alone as they were always dedicated to turning in the best work, but Hufflepuffs, as hard as they might try, rarely had many competent potions brewers and would now be watched even closer than before, especially in the class with his Slytherins. And he was going to be practically breathing down the Gryffindors' necks watching for trouble.

Particularly from those Weasley twins.

No, he was not going to be nice. He was too much of a perfectionist to give allowances and doing so for Slytherins for all these years had been aggravating. He would enjoy taking those brats down a peg or two! But perhaps he would not take quite so many points simply for poor brewing provided he did not see any laziness, sloppiness, or deliberate incompetence. Or experimenting, as was the case of the Weasley twins.

Hmm, perhaps he should add a full class period dedicated to the handling of potions equipment and how one prepares ingredients properly. For all years. Maybe a couple classes of pure theory so as to cut down on the potential explosions and meltdowns in the future.

His curriculum needed some major revising.

xXxXxXx

Draco:

Draco was not having a good year. At all.

The year had started out alright. The majority of Slytherin House (well below the Fifth Years anyway, but he forgave the upper years for being so focused on their OWL and NEWT studies) was at his beck and call, and he was the star Seeker on the Quidditch team. That snide Zabini girl was gone so he no longer had to compete with her in Potions for his godfather's attention. Speaking of Potions, sabotaging Longbottom's potions was almost as much fun as sabotaging the Weasel's! If only he had as wonderful reactions that got twice the amounts off, but you couldn't have everything.

Of course, that's when his year started going to Hell.

He'd sabotaged Longbottom's potion one day and it had exploded all over Professor Snape! Worse, his godfather had seen him – and demanded actual punishment! He had a ton of points taken off of him, stuck him in detention with Professor Sprout for two months, and the Headmaster had notified his father that he was on probation and would be suspended the next time he "acted out of line"! His father had actually sent him a Howler!

And now his Housemates were shunning him. Draco had never been shunned before. He didn't like it. Not one bit.

It wasn't his fault! It was Longbottom's potion that exploded! Well okay, maybe he'd helped the potion along a little….

In March the oaf groundskeeper – and how the oaf got to be teacher for Care of Magical Creatures Draco didn't know – decided to introduce them all to hippogriffs. They were dangerous! One nearly took his arm off!

And that mudblood Granger, walking around with her nose in the air, so superior! It wasn't fair, she shouldn't be beating his grades in nearly every class. She had to be cheating, or the teachers were showing favoritism!

He tried to put her in her place one day and she punched him in the nose! The Weasel had even been there with those other two girls and they all laughed at him!

And to top off everything else, Hufflepuff of all Houses had won the Quidditch Cup! _Damn_ that Cedric Diggory!

No, Draco had not had a good year at all.

xXxXxXx

Remus:

For Remus Lupin it was actually a rather quiet year. Snape had been brewing the Wolfsbane potion for him up until The Potions Incident just before Christmas, and during the break he'd had to go home to his secluded cottage for the full moon. Luckily by the New Year the Headmaster had gotten Horace Slughorn to make the potion for him for the rest of the year.

Speaking of New Year's, the Ministry statue incident he'd read about in the paper had been hilarious, not to mention quite fitting in his opinion. He'd visited the memorial once and been horrified at how James and Lily's home had been kept in deliberate disrepair for the public to gawk at, not to mention the statue's inscription had never once mentioned his departed friends' sacrifice. He wondered how many purebloods were secretly angered by the blatant disregard for private property rights, even if the owner was only at infant at the time. Well maybe not so much the Death Eaters. But still.

Of course, it had the werewolf wondering if Sirius had been behind the statue incident. It sounded just like the sort of prank Padfoot liked best, with a bit of Prongs' sense of justice thrown in with the new inscription.

Then in March the Malfoy boy had been rude to a hippogriff in blatant disregard of the instructions Hagrid had given, and had been injured. Of course Lucius Malfoy was quick to blame the half-giant, and the poor creature was sentenced to beheading.

Hagrid had been nearly inconsolable.

Luckily, his old friend Sirius Black had been exchanging letters with him since New Year's. Funny envelopes those were, appearing and disappearing without the need for owls. Sirius clammed up about Harry and where they were, all Moony knew was that Harry was just fine, had a bunch of great friends, and was getting a good education.

Of course he'd told the Headmaster. Albus had seemed a little disappointed when he didn't know more, but happy that his cup was healthy, happy, and in school somewhere. He still worried about Death Eaters, but admitted that if he couldn't find Harry then they most likely were having even less luck.

But back to the hippogriff, Buckbeak its name was if he remembered correctly. Remus wrote about the incident to Sirius, and Padfoot had suggested sending the poor creature to the Potter Preserve. Of course! He'd forgotten about the Preserve.

Remus had talked it over with Hagrid, who happily agreed, and then one weekend shortly before Buckbeak's scheduled execution the werewolf had snuck out of Hogwarts and flown him to the border of the Preserve. A house-elf had met him and taken in the hippogriff and Remus had apparated back to Hogwarts.

The following Monday, Walden Macnair had not been happy that his prey escaped.

In May, Ron Weasley had come to DADA with a rat in his pocket. A very familiar smelling rat. In was the day before the full moon and Remus' senses were as sensitive as they could be.

He'd all but dragged the boy to the Headmaster after class, poor Ron terrified he was in trouble. Luckily Snape had veritisserum on hand and a quick call to Amelia Bones later the Headmaster's office was crowded with staff and aurors, interrogating the illegal animagus.

Pettigrew was taken to a Ministry holding cell awaiting the next boat to Azkaban and a rather shell-shocked Ron Weasley was excused from the Herbology class he'd missed.

Unfortunately Wormtail escaped that night. The aurors suspected an inside job since the cell had been warded against animagi transformations.

Slytherin House had won the House Cup for the last seven years running, but their winning streak had gone to Hell when one of their own sabotaged Neville Longbottom's potion causing his long stay in the Infirmary and lingering weakness and low mobility in his left arm and hand. Worse, Snape had actually seen him in the last second, so the Slytherin House had to deal with his wrath as well as that of Pomona Sprout and Madam Pomfrey.

For a while, Slytherin House was dead last for House points. They did manage to scramble their way back up, but had ended second behind Ravenclaw.

As the 1993-1994 Hogwarts school year ended, Remus couldn't help but silently offer his hopes that Snape would continue his fairness and perhaps learn to relax a little. Or maybe he'd jut grow even more bitter. Well whatever happened to the dour potions master now, the werewolf was looking forward to a summer on the Potter Preserve, where he'd been invited to stay with his old friend, the now free Sirius Black, and astonishingly Harry Potter.

Moony and Padfoot happily spent the rest of the summer relaxing out on the Preserve while Harry went back to school after a week in June.

Remus wondered if he should tell Dumbledore exactly where Harry Potter was going to school….

….Nah. Harry would tell him when he was ready to face the world that had made an infant their Savior. Moony just hoped he brought a camera when he did.

* * *

**Author's Note: **I thought this would be one of the short chapters and quickly put out, but the more I type the more I realize I want to add in….

I've had numerous reviews asking me to delve more into the "Dumbledore is an evil manipulative old coot" angle. I've indicated several times before and at least once said outright that Dumbledore is not infallible – he is human and makes mistakes like the rest of us. He regrets those mistakes. Eventually he's going to meet Harry and apologize; he just hasn't had the chance yet. While I enjoy the occasional Evil Dumbledore fanfic, this is not one of those. Dumbledore is not evil; Ginny, Ron, and Hermione are not backstabbers; Draco is just plain annoying, and Snape I could go either way with which is why there's a poll.

**Snape's Fate poll final results!**_** (For full descriptions see previous chapters)**_

**Death Eater Snape 9 votes; Slytherin Snape 12 votes; Gryffindor Snape 2 votes; Hufflepuff Snape 3 votes; Ravenclaw Snape 9 votes; Neville's Victim 23 votes!**

_**Nosferatum **__votes that Snape, having lived for the chance to meet with Harry and make him suffer, struggles with depression after Harry fails to show up and finally commits suicide. So that's like… a Hufflepuff death? Not going to happen, but I hadn't seen this suggestion before so you get an __**Honorable Mention**__._

_**novastorm76's**_** Neville's Solution won!!! I will use elements of the Slytherin Solution as well, and possibly Ravenclaw later on. At any rate, most people seem to want to watch Snape suffer instead of simply die, so he'll just have to live with the suffering! He may get past it later (which is where the Ravenclaw bit would come in) but he might just stay bitter… we'll see. Thank you all for voting!**

((I even offered a very canon-ish heroic sacrifice option in tribute to JKR and it got the least votes! It was even one vote behind the Hufflepuff Happy Caring Snape option! How messed up is that?))


	18. One Flew Over the Phoenix Nest

_**Disclaimer:**__ I own nothing you recognize from canon Harry Potter. JKRowling owns that franchise._

**Spread Your Wings**

_**By Ebona Nite**_

**Chapter Eighteen:** **One Flew Over the Phoenix Nest**

* * *

After changing the inscription of the memorial statue and helping Sirius dump it in the Ministry atrium – the original unflattering statue had been delivered with their compliments to Irontooth for all his help at Godric's Hollow and Grimmauld Place, to do with as he willed – Harry had headed back to Atlantis looking forward to seeing Luna and his other friends again.

xXxXxXx

It wasn't too much trouble getting back into the swing of things.

In the third week of the Second Term Blaise shocked herself by making another friend, one in her own dorm – a male sphinx named Kamau. He'd introduced himself one morning while she was struggling over Literature homework, an essay discussing Odysseus's use of tricky language in Homer's _The Odyssey_, and offered his help with the subject. Apparently he was a great lover of riddles, logic puzzles, and layered meanings.

His full name was Kamau, son of Mbwana, in the line of Kafele. Or, in the human way of putting it, Kamau Mbwana Kafele. He told her to just call him Kam.

Kam was large, his head about the same height as Amber's, though of course he was much more muscular being feline rather than equine. He was a dark tawny gold with a dark brown mane and tail tuft, gold cat-like slit-pupil eyes, and feline ears poking up near the top of his head. His face was human, though the rest of him was lion; his brow was heavy and his nose and jaws jutted out a little, a bit like a feline muzzle. When he spoke Blaise could see his teeth were all sharp, just like a lion's. The mostly-human face was the only part of him without fur, and his skin was dark brown though not quite as dark as the near-black color of his mane.

Kam was an Atlantis native, though she guessed he might be of African descent before his ancestors moved to the Island (sphinxes came primarily from Africa, but some had moved around the Meditarranean, especially Greece ad Turkey, and those had developed lighter coloring). Though large, he was quiet. And luckily for him he had near-perfect recall and had no need of notes, he merely needed help now and then turning pages since his paws didn't come equipped with opposable thumbs.

Sphinxes were one of the Races that had the most classes designed specifically for them as they of course could not do written homework and worked almost exclusively orally. Merfolk, harpies, and water-based fae also had similar limitations and specially organized classes. Certain electives that did not have written homework or could make exceptions or were flexible enough to allow choices or changes were open to them however.

Blaise was quick to introduce Kam to the rest of her friends. As it turned out, the sphinx was in Amber's Phys Ed class, the Quadrupeds' Track and Field, which was designed for centaurs, sphinxes, lycanthropes using wolf form (Chad was taking the regular T&F, preferring to run in human form and do events like shot-put that were designed for hands), and four-footed animal fae who wanted to race, jump hurdles, and run obstacle courses. Kam also got along quite well with Orlando, who eagerly traded riddles and logic puzzles with him.

He was a year older than Blaise, though he was in the same year. According to him, sphinxes were one of the Races in which the majority opted not to attend the official schools, learning what they needed from parents and elders in their prides and taking jobs within their own communities. Few decided to branch out, and to take jobs that interacted with other species (such as merchants and ambassadors) or were open to all species, which meant at least a minimum level of education at an interspecies school, either the smaller primary schools or the elite Academy.

xXxXxXx

Harry, Luna, Chad, Blaise, and Orlando were hanging out in the "East Quad" one day in early September, a large open area between buildings with a grassy lawn, trees, some flowerbeds, and scattered benches. There was even a small fountain near the middle, with stone dolphins and merfolk statues. Amber and Kamau still had Q-Track practice, but the others had decided on having lunch out under a large oak tree that day since it was sunny and warm. There were plenty of open benches and even a picknick table, which they had commandeered.

It was nice to take a break from the fast pace of the classes now and then. Just hanging out for a meal, or spending a couple hours at an arcade or in the library together was generally all they had time for unless they all planned to have most or all of their homework done by the weekend so they could go out for Sunday afternoon. Times like this allowed them to relax, have some fun, and maybe just be silly for a while.

Orlando took this opportunity to read as he sipped a thermos of warm goat blood with cracker pieces floating in it (his version of tomato soup apparently). Another fantasy novel, this one _The Once and Future King_ by T.H. White. Sometimes Harry wondered how Orlando managed to keep up with his school work since all he ever saw the vampire reading was novels like that. Though he had to admit, he enjoyed _The Hobbit _which Orlando had gotten him to read, and had even started on _The Lord of the Rings_ trilogy, though he certainly didn't read nearly as fast or as often as his friend.

As Harry stabbed at his salad, a slice of avocado shot off his plate and disappeared into the grass at his feet.

"Noooo! Not my avocado! Come back my precious!" Harry wailed, lower lip trembling and eyes shining with fake tears.

"It's okay Harry," Luna patted him on the shoulder sympathetically, "If you love it, let it go. If it loves you, it will come back to you!"

"_Really?_" Harry looked up at her with a hopeful expression, sniffling for affect.

"Well no, not really… it's kinda dirty now."

Chad cracked up. "You two are a hoot!" Blaise rolled her eyes but couldn't help snickering, and Orlando even looked up from his book long enough to grin at the pair. "Yeah, a real riot. But have you finished your math homework yet?"

Chad, Harry, and Luna looked at him with horror.

Birds were startled out of the oak tree at the synchronized "Nooooooo not the algebraaaaaa!" that resounded beneath them.

xXxXxXx

Harry, Luna, Blaise, and Orlando were all taking the Transfiguration elective that dealt exclusively with animagi transformations. Chad had said he was happy with his wolf form and didn't want to try for another. Non-humans like centaurs and sphinxes didn't have animagus potential since they were already primarily animal in body. When Harry asked if this meant they had a humanoid transformation in place of an animagus form Amber laughed and said he had them confused with animal fae, but Kam got a contemplative look on his face as if he'd been posed a particularly hard riddle.

Harry wondered if he'd started something.

Everyone taking the class was very excited. Apparently multiple forms were possible, though not everyone had them or had enough power to manage more than one transformation. The teacher told them it depended on a variety of things, including power, how complex a person's personality was, and at what stages of life a person tried developing a form. When one's personality changed, or new experiences were gained, often the animagus potential would change, which could change or add a new form.

It was rarer that a person had more than one animagus form at the same time though, but that spoke of a very complex personality, and the person would need a very ordered and disciplined mind to access both at the same time. Searching for a form at different stages in one's life could reveal different forms each time. Mostly this meant only one form was seen at a time.

Everyone was started on meditation with the assistance of a potion that was supposed to help reveal the potential form or forms to the hopefuls. No one was allowed to try transforming outside of class without the teacher present to assist in case anyone got stuck. And everyone was warned that the first term would consist entirely of research on their form, while actual transforming practice would not begin until second term. Anyone caught attempting it early would be severely punished, because of the dangers of getting oneself stuck.

Luna was delighted upon seeing herself as a barn owl after a week's meditation. Blaise had figured out she was some sort of serpent quite quickly, but it took her longer to work out the species. It turned out she was a black mamba.

Orlando took much longer than the girls. What had him so confused was the combination of forms; after a month and a half of meditation and research he was finally able to work out that he had two potential forms at this time – a badger and a snow leopard. He was quite proud of himself. The teacher did warn him that he may only be able to achieve a single transformation at a time, and suggested he chose one to work with for the class and work with that form until he had mastered it before beginning with the second. That way his body and magic would be less confused and less likely to get him stuck halfway or in some odd three-way transformation disaster.

The young vampire eventually decided to start with the badger form.

Harry though, was just stuck. Even as it was nearing December all he could get was an impression of wings and an overpowering sense of rushing wind, with an odd sinuous hissing undertone that reminded him of speaking parseltongue.

On the other hand, all that meditation was bringing his passive empathy under conscious control, and he'd unlocked his metamorphmagus ability. He was only able to change his hair length and color though, which was cool enough for him. It meant he no longer had to put up with a bird's nest!

xXxXxXx

On the subject of other classes:

Harry and Orlando had chosen basic hand-to-hand combat class, which included basics of various martial arts, which would after a full year allow them to take intermediate and advanced combat and defense classes in more specific martial arts (such as karate, tai kwan do, judo, tai chi, etc) the following year. Luna and Blaise had opted for the more general physical education classes, Chad had his track and field class, and Amber and Kam had quadruped geared classes to choose from.

Luna had also chosen to take a music class, beginning learning flute. She already could read music and play piano, and had some minor training with a lap harp though she wanted to try a concert harp (the type that stood on the floor and was nearly as tall as a person), learn violin, and maybe try extracurricular choir, as she later confessed to Harry. He advised her not to try it all at once or she'd have no free time to practice and would wear herself out. After all, they had years of school left! Luna told him she'd already thought of that but thanked and hugged him for thinking of her wellbeing.

Harry found himself blushing for some reason.

Everyone had magical defense class, though not all together. Harry, Luna, and Blaise managed to have the same class during first term. They were taught a wide variety of hexes, jinxes, and curses along with their counters, and told that second term would begin the basics of magical dueling. There were exciting rumors that the Patronus charm would be taught third term, though Harry wondered if there was truth to that.

And now, as it got close to Yule break and the end of the first trimester, whenever he was feeling strong emotions his wind elemental potential was beginning to make itself known. Which didn't help when he got frustrated, since he tended to accidentally create tiny whirlwinds and scatter homework papers about. Chasing after them proved to be stress-relieving though.

Besides the paper chasing activities, he found flying, either chasing a snitch, doing stunts, or just floating around on the wind, to also be quite relaxing. He spent the second half of Yule break touring the Island with Sirius, and flying on his new broom.

xXxXxXx

Harry soared over the snow-covered pine forest one Sunday, reveling in the new Firebolt broom Sirius had gotten him for Yule. It was still snowy in the higher climates of the Island, as it was only early February. He was near one of the Island's two mountain ranges, the ground sloping upward and a timberline only a mile or so ahead of him.

Ahead and to his left, a column of smoke trickled through the treetops, yet when he reached out his developing empathy he felt no disturbance from the trees or animals in the area which would indicate a forest fire.

Curious, Harry banked left and began gliding towards the smoke. The ground steadily rose as he approached the timberline. The smoke came from a craggy outcrop, in a niche in the stone fifteen feet up. He hovered on his broom and found a burning nest smelling of sweet herbs, cinnamon, and the sharp fresh scent of pine resin.

It was then he realized he'd happened upon one of the wild phoenixes.

The fragrant nest burned down to ashes as he watched. Harry floated tentatively forward, peaking into the pile of ashes.

Eyes met, gold-flecked black to emerald green, a recognizing of kindred spirits, and a warm loving feeling spread through his body and mind.

He knew instantly that she was female, and she was his partner.

xXxXxXx

The female phoenix chick grew. She was ruby red with a violet breast, with iridescent green and blue on her swan-like neck, speckles of gold all over, gold tips to her wing and crest feathers, and gold eye-marks on her long peacock-like train of tail feathers. Harry named her Aurora. Hedwig had been jealous for a while, but as she was already as much Luna's owl as Harry's she found any exclusive attention she craved from the dreamy eyed blonde whenever she wanted, and soon calmed down from the appearance of this new avian.

Where Aurora's black eyes had been flecked with gold before, now they were flecked with emerald green. In return, Harry's emerald green eyes were now flecked with gold. He hadn't noticed right off – it had taken Luna commenting on how she liked the change for him to realize it.

Harry had discovered that along with the bond and telepathic connection to the phoenix, Aurora helped stabilize his empathy and wind elemental, and had unlocked his dormant soul reading ability. His connection to birds and animals had grown, and he found he was able to understand the language of birds though he could not speak it, and communicated on an empathic level with birds and animals.

Aurora told him she also helped protect his mind. He would need to study Occlumency on his own though, for complete protection.

The female phoenix also persisted on calling him 'fledgling' for reasons known only too herself, which amused Luna to no end. And Harry swore she knew something about his allusive animagus form, but she remained smugly silent on that point.

xXxXxXx

One fine day in April, while Harry was wandering through a market looking for a nice birthday gift for Luna, he turned and found himself walking straight into a woman.

She was a stately lady. Not a classic beauty though more than just pretty, she was what people would call "handsome." Her hair was iron grey and pulled into a loose bun, but her face was smooth and her hazel eyes were sharp, clear, and bright. She gave him a feeling of serenity, of inner peace and strength of will. She had a sort of ageless quality about her; all in all she could have been any age from 30 to 80 though she looked fairly young despite the grey hair.

"I'm so sorry ma'am, I wasn't looking where I was going." Harry blushed.

She smiled, "It's no trouble young man, I can tell it was an accident. I am Perenelle by the way, but please call me Nelle." _(silent –e)_

"Oh where are my manners! I'm Harry Potter; it's nice to meet you."

"The pleasure is all mine – oh my!" Nelle's last exclamation was for Aurora, who had chosen that moment to appear in a flash of fire and settle on Harry's shoulder. "And this is Aurora, my companion." Harry added. Aurora chirruped politely.

"A pleasure, truly!" Nelle said delightedly with a small bow to the phoenix. "It's rare to see one with a phoenix companion, especially one so young. Such an interesting individual – or couple, as it were. Would you mind terribly if I began a correspondence with you?"

"Of course not, I would love to hear from you." Harry's empathy and minor soul reading abilities were telling him that this woman was kind, generous, and knowledgeable. Someone he wanted to know. Someone who would make a wonderful mother figure, or perhaps grandmother figure…

"Ah, and here's my husband. Nick darling, this is Harry and his companion Aurora."

"Darn it Nelle, I've told you to call me Nicholas!" The man's voice was affectionate and amused, not really angry, and Harry instantly decided he liked him as well. Aurora clearly did as well, which was an even better judgment of character. The man nodded to him, "Pleasure."

Nick – or Nicholas as he preferred – had the same quality of agelessness about him though he appeared a bit older than his wife, maybe in his fifties. He had salt-and-pepper hair that may have once been black or dark brown, and close-cropped grey beard, and warm brown eyes. He was a little on the heavy side though not unhealthy looking, and Harry thought that if his hair had been white and his belly a bit larger he would have made a great Santa Claus.

And so, his correspondence via phoenix mail with Nicholas and Nelle began. To Harry's delight they were very knowledgeable about animals and plants both magical and mundane, potions, herbology, astrology, runes, and a number of other things. He quite liked the two of them and every once in a while would run into one or the other in the market nearest the Celeste University campus – apparently both were professors there.

xXxXxXx

For Midsummer break Harry returned to the Potter Preserve. Sirius had invited his old friend over, a werewolf named Remus Lupin, and Harry had given permission for his friend to stay there with Sirius.

The cottage at Godric's Hollow and Sirius's renovated Black Manor at Grimmauld Place, London would be finished up soon, and the dog animagus would be moving in to one or the other, probably taking his friend in as a roommate too. For now while the property charms (especially the expansion and additional construction inside the Potter Cottage) and new _fidelis_ were still being put into place, they were living at the Potter Preserve manor house. Which still had bedrooms, bathrooms, and kitchen, but the majority of the inside had turned into a conservatory and various dens for smaller animals and some bird species. It was rather like living in a menagerie, but one where the animals could come and go as they pleased.

Remus arrived two days before the kids, and he and Sirius had a rather tearful reunion in which self-blame and many apologies were thrown around quite often.

Sirius ushered Remus into the kitchen, intent on scrounging up a snack. There were brownies who cooked and cleaned of course, but they were there primarily to take care of the animals and birds which meant any humans who lived there had to cook most of their meals by themselves unless a brownie happened to be free.

"Watch out for the stove." Sirius warned.

"The stove?" Remus raised an incredulous eyebrow.

"Harry's _Monster Book of Monsters_ has taken to nesting under it, and jumping out to attack the ankles of anyone who gets too close. Unless it's Harry of course. Bloody book." Sirius eyed the bottom of the stove in uneasy distaste, "I think it may be in a conspiracy with that bloody _dodo_."

Remus rolled his eyes at his friend's usage of the muggle term for a diricawl and was about to comment on the ridiculousness of Sirius's conspiracy theory – when the stove gave a suspicious rustling rattle sound. He hastily stepped away.

Just in case.

xXxXxXx

Harry had also invited his friends over. Luna couldn't wait to see all the creatures on the Preserve – the Potter Preserve was pretty famous in England. Blaise had been very regretful that she hadn't been able to come, but her mother was actually coming to Atlantis for the week to visit and she couldn't skip the family reunion. Kam had also declined. Luna, Chad, Amber, and Orlando were all coming though, and Luna was actually going to stay the whole week since it was easier to visit her father from the Preserve than from the Island.

Remus was a tad jumpy at learning two of Harry's friends were a centaur and a sphinx and that the centaur would actually be visiting for three days. He was far more used to interacting with humans and werewolves, and he could even understand Orlando being a vampire, but he hadn't realized that so many different nonhumans went to the Academy, or even that some would socialize outside of their own species on a regular basis.

Once everyone had arrived, introductions were made all around. Harry found Remus very interesting to talk to – the tired old werewolf knew quite a bit of the magical history of Britain, which wasn't a subject Harry knew in much depth yet.

Chad, learning that the man was a werewolf and had been using the Wolfsbane potion for nearly nine months, quickly took it upon himself to instruct the older man in how to make peace with and accept his inner wolf (it was going to take a lot of time and meditation though) and insisted that Remus stop taking the potion coldturkey, which was going to be rather painful for him for the next several months. However Remus, hearing the true dangers of the potion, quickly agreed.

Sirius even said he'd take up meditating with his friend in a show of moral support. Remus privately thought it might help his friend get the haunted look out of his eyes and put Azkaban behind him.

"So, Atlantis…" Remus said, "how are you doing there Harry? The Academy everything it's cracked up to be?"

"Better!" Harry exclaimed excitedly. "The majority of students are born on Atlantis of course, but there are some from all over the world, and all species too. So I can learn a lot about just about anywhere – any being, any culture – if I just ask around until I find the people who have come from Outside and are willing to answer my questions. I've answered dozens of questions about non-magical England and even some about humans, especially mundane English culture. And Luna's answered a lot about the magical Britain… although sometimes I have to translate her answers for the uninitiated."

Remus, having now met Luna and her unique way of seeing and talking about the world, understood that sentiment perfectly. "Well I'm glad it's such a diverse campus. How is the education? I've heard it can be pretty difficult."

"Oh definitely!" Harry gushed, "We've got magical and mundane classes all together, and school is practically always in session! If we don't keep up our pace there's a danger of burn-out or flunking. But that's why they choose few Outside students so carefully, and why at least half of Atlantis' population go to smaller primary and secondary schools around the Island instead of the Academy. It's real hard to find lazy kids at AA, they generally don't make it in.

"But," Harry added, "I think I may want to also go to the Celeste University once I graduate at the Academy. I know I could go anywhere Outside with just Academy schooling and be hired practically anywhere in the magical communities, but I think I want to live on Atlantis and get a job there… though I still want to travel the world a lot!"

"The University? I hadn't heard they had one."

"It's for Academy students only. The smaller schools can attend University anywhere Outside or get into apprenticeships, but CU is very private. It's on a quarter system though and summer quarter classes are optional, so unlike the Academy it actually has a full summer break!"

Harry continued to ramble about the educational opportunities, all the animals he wanted to study and see, and the places around the world he wanted to travel, until dinner time. Padfoot rolled his eyes at seeing Moony completely absorbed by the flow of information from the thirteen year old.

xXxXxXx

Over the course of the week, Harry took up some extra reading. Nelle had recommended several books about the different sentient races, and those he'd picked up along with some he'd been given as gifts made for most of this reading – though with Orlando's prodding he was also intermittently reading _The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy_ by Douglas Adams. He had to admit it was hilarious; it made a great break from homework.

The most interesting book he read had in-depth descriptions on many of the sentient beings, which the book termed the "Great Races." The descriptions were long but some points stood out more than most to him:

_**Human: **__Humans warm-blooded, bipedal with opposable thumbs on their hands, mostly hairless but with hair on their heads, and closest in evolutionary relative to primates…_

…_Human beings are the most numerous of the Great Races currently living on the planet Terra (commonly called Earth in modern times). The majority have little to no connection to magic. Some have only a little, and these are either magic-locked or have only psychic powers. Those who do have a fully working magic core are commonly called Witches and Wizards in Western society and Sorcerers and Sorceresses in Eastern society, though a number of terms, such as Mages and Enchanters, have also been used, usually in reference to power level and/or the type of magic the human uses…_

…_Humans form the main species from which two others of the recognized Great Races have evolved; the Lycanthropes and Vampires. Once called 'subraces' of the human race, Lycanthropes and Vampires protested the implication of subhuman nature implied in the term and are now known as 'branch-human' races; races which branched off from the human race to evolve into their own races. Humans can still be Turned into the branch races though they are often considered inferior to those Born into the other Races, by those Races. See __**Lycanthrope**__ and __**Vampire**__ entries for more information…_

_**Lycanthrope:**__ One of the two races evolved from the human race. Born Lycanthropes have three forms: the human, the wolf, and the hybrid. Turned Lycans, commonly called Werewolves, have only the human and wolf forms and typically cannot access their wolf form unless by light of the full moon. Lycanthropes can access all three forms at any time, except during the full moon when they must stay in wolf form. Humans can be Turned by Werewolf or Lycan saliva injected into the bloodstream, usually through a bite. They have a severe allergy to silver... _

…_There is speculation that Lycanthropes evolved from human-wolf fae intermarriage... There have been reports around the world of less common "were-creatures", such as the Were-bear known in Russia and Scandinavia, and the Skinwalkers of North America; these however are animal fae rather than human-animal hybrids…_

_**Vampire:**__ One of the two races evolved from the human race. Their source of nutrition is blood, and while they can subsist on animal blood alone much more must be ingested than if they drink blood from any of the Great Races. Born Vampires can ingests human food, mostly for the taste, but cannot get enough nutrition from it to survive without blood. They are less vulnerable to sunlight, particularly after reaching adulthood, and need fewer hours of sleep than humans… _

…_Turned Vampires not only find sunlight lethal, but are vulnerable to any objects, blessed water, etc which have the power of religious belief within them. They have a greater need for blood and as a result kill far more often than Born Vampires, and cannot ingest human food and drink as the Born Vampires can. Vampires have heightened senses, which may be where the myth of garlic being poisonous to them came about…_

…_Most vampires can project a sex appeal similar to the veela allure, though typically not as overwhelming. It seems to be part of their nature, of the Born at least, and after a number of interviews it also appears that the majority of their race leans toward bisexuality, subscribing to the slogan "beauty transcends gender"…_

_**Elf:**__ Elves are mostly human in appearance, with long pointy tapered ears, slit-pupil eyes with a wider are more colorful iris, and typically taller on average than the average human. The elves once were as populous as human on Earth, long before humans spread to far, but when humans began to grow in numbers, spreading through the lands and destroying nature, the elves chose to leave Earth. Stories say they went "Underhill" or to "Faerieland" or "Tir-na-nog" depending on the culture. The elves somehow copied all of Earth minus other beings, linking this new Earth "Gaia" to old Earth "Terra" through certain doorways, the knowledge and locations of which they guard very closely. Gaia likely exists in a separate dimension similar to Atlantis, but on a much greater scale…_

…_Elves are rather private and thus mysterious, but what is known is that they have heightened senses of sight and hearing, a connection to nature, inherent grace, and the ability to learn just about anything at rates far greater than any other being. Compared to humans and even vampires they have great natural beauty and grace, and can use a hypnotic allure on nearly all beings of both genders, but one that can be 'turned on and off' at will unlike the veela's allure which is always 'on' at some level…_

_**Fae: **__Fae evolved primarily from animals though there are also plant fae whose origins are unknown. Animal-fae's primary form is the animal they were born as, and as they grow they learn to take on a hybrid-human form. The eldest and most powerful can learn to take a near-perfect human form with little in the way to distinguish them from true humans, and glimpses of them have sprung myths of "Skinwalkers" and "Were-creatures" around the world, confusing them with Lycanthropes. Fae consider animals their lesser cousins, viewing them in a similar fashion as humans might view chimpanzees. Though sentient, fae are closer to animal nature than human nature; therefore those fae of predator animals can and do hunt the prey animals of their lesser kindred, though most do not hunt the fae of prey animals lest they become murders of fellow Beings…_

…_Human-animal hybrid races such as lycanthropes, veela, selkies, harpies, merfolk, etc are thought to have evolved from intermarriage between fae and magical humans, or fae and elves. The major difference being that some races, like the harpies, have only one hybrid form, and others, like lycanthropes, are born human rather than wolf and have instincts of a mixed nature or closer to that of a human… _

…_Nymphs, particularly dryads, are thought related to or evolved from plant-fae, though dryads are connected to their tree rather than being the actual tree with two forms as a tree-fae would have. Plant-fae on the other hand are more typically of smaller plant species like flowers, ivy, reeds, and bushes. Not much is actually known about plant-fae, even less than the animal-fae, as fewer interact with other Races and most are extremely secretive…_

_**Veela:**__ Veela have two forms, the human form and the human-bird hybrid form. Their hybrid forms are of birds of prey, commonly hawk though also eagle and falcon variants, and owl is so far unheard-of. They can also throw fireballs in their hybrid form, which typically comes out in times of great stress, particularly anger. Veela have a natural allure, speculated to have come from fae-elf origins (though their origin remains speculative only), which can be controlled to some extent though how much control depends on the individual…_

…_The majority of veela are female, but the occasional male is also born. Most veela mate with humans or vampires, or the occasional elf or bird-fae. Children can be full blood veela, or full blood of the mate's species. There are no half veela, but the genes can skip a generation or two before turning a grandchild or great-grandchild into a full blood veela…_

_**Centaur: **__Centaurs are half-human-half-equine beings; they are entirely human down to the navel, just above where the human pelvis would attach to the spine, and entirely equine to just before the neck of a horse, where the two halves meet. Centaurs therefore have two stomachs, that of the human and that of the horse, and can eat the whole range of human and horse foods and drinks except for meat, fish, or fowl. Their human half is slightly altered to include pointed ears which can partially swivel, wider pupils, and hair along the spine just as a horse's mane grows along its neck… _

…_The majority of their kind are premier astrologers and can read the present and future in the heavens. Centaurs are known to be excellent at archery, though some herds also train in javelins and short swords…_

_**Sphinx: **__With the body of a lion and a human-feline head, sphinxes originated in Africa though early on some migrated to Europe. Their human-like face is the only part of the body with skin, often similar to or matching the color of their coat. The males have a lion mane while the females grow shorter, half-manes. Their ears are that of a lion, on the top of the head, and they have feline eyes and razor sharp teeth. Their facial features can be entirely human or slightly feline depending on the individual…_

…_They are primarily carnivores, though some have discovered an enjoyment of fruits and sweets. While in the past some sphinxes prayed on humans, as a species they look down on this barbarity and refuse to eat sentient beings. This does not stop them from attacking and even killing enemies, tresspassers, and betrayers. Being mostly lion, sphinxes live in prides of a dozen or more females with one to three males in leadership roles, and the majority of males, particularly young males, often leave the prides they are born into to become wanderers or start prides of their own, unless chosen by the older male to be the next pride leader…_

…_Sphinxes have naturally eidetic (photographic) memories, and an inherent love of riddles and logic puzzles. Some are drawn to philosophy. On occasion sphinxes have been employed as librarians, archivists, and historians…_

_**Goblin: **__Goblins while humanoid in structure, rarely reach heights greater than four and a half feet, have tough skin in shades of brown and olive, long ears, sharp teeth and nails, and large eyes with no whites. They are a very militant race, but also very good at finance. They two main careers are warriors and bankers, and many train as both…_

…_Goblins prefer to live and work in subterranean places such as caves, tunnels, mines, and underground bunkers. Like dwarves, they mine metals and ores and forge weapons, though they are considered a close second to dwarven-forged weapons and don't branch out into as many areas of metalwork as dwarves, nor do they have much in the way of stonemasonry, preferring to carve tunnels and caverns out of the rock in more natural manners…_

There were other Great Races in the book, but Harry paid less attention to them for the time being. Still, it was a fantastic information source and as far as he could tell very accurate, so he decided to keep it on hand as a reference.

Besides his extra reading, there was also homework that needed to be done. And so three days before classes began again Harry found himself sitting down with Luna trying to figure out why he'd signed up for pre-calculus so early when he had years ahead of him to do so.

"Question: You are standing in a rowboat in the middle of a lake. In one hand you hold a knut. You drop the knut. What happens?"* Harry stared at the question for a long moment. "…Wha?"

"Oh goody, an easy question!" Luna chirped, setting a dicto-pen (same concept as a dicto-quill, but a modern ballpoint pen) to her paper. "Answer: Standing in a boat is a very bad idea, so the first thing that happens is that I fall over and have to swim to shore. Also I've always been told never to throw away money like that. But I suppose I can't help it if I've been silly enough to stand up in a rowboat and have fallen overboard. So I suppose I could ask a friendly mermaid or maybe a naiad to retrieve the knut for me, if I really want it so badly. I mean, it's only a knut."

Finishing her "math" homework, Luna put away her dicto-pen. Harry was staring incredulously at her. "Luna I think they meant it as a calculus problem, not a logic puzzle."

"Well it sounded like a logic puzzle!" Luna pouted.

"True…" Harry eyed the math book with distaste for a moment and then shrugged, and decided to follow Luna's example since he really had no idea what it was even asking for math-wise, or how to calculate whatever-it-was. "Answer: First, I sit down so I don't fall in the lake. Then I summon the knut with the _accio_ spell." Harry finished writing and sat back with a sigh of relief. "Done!" Luna giggled at him.

_***(AN: I've heard this is an actual basic engineering problem. It sounds like it might have something to do with physics calculations, but I'm just as lost as Harry and Luna. /AN)**_

"Say Harry…."

"Yes Luna?"

"I was thinking of taking French next year. Would you take it with me?"

Harry considered. Latin was taught to many European purebloods, either by their parents or tutors, from a very early age in order to help with spellwork when they began their actual education. Luna had been tutoring him in it though he wasn't taking a class. He was also taking Lantisian, though with the universal language pendant helping accelerate picking up that particular language after this year he'd be fluent in it. But did he want to take another foreign language? Then again this would be a modern language he could use Outside, and he wanted to do a lot of traveling around the world once he'd graduated…

"Alright, sure. I'll sign up with you starting next August when the signups come around again." Luna beamed at him. Her happiness quickly washed away that last vestiges of reluctance at yet another unnecessary class.

Harry and Luna had been getting closer all year and Harry, nearly 14, was finally getting to the stage where he was noticing girls as more than just friends. Luna was his best and closest friend, she was funny, kind, supportive, and understood him, and he was beginning to take note of her developing beauty – gossamer silver-blonde hair, blue eyes, dreamy smile…

He found more and more now his heart speeding up at her closeness or her voice and a blush rising to his cheeks. But Harry still felt awkward and unsure of himself, so said nothing and hid it as best he could.

Neither noticed the knowing looks thrown between their friends.

_Everyone_ had noticed Chad's crush on Blaise. On the other hand, Blaise had adopted Amber's "dingo-boy" moniker for the lycan and delighted at turning him down. She found the whole situation amusing… and Chad was persistent. The others were betting on how long she'd keep him chasing before agreeing to a date.

xXxXxXx

July went by with Irontooth sending Harry and Sirius a letter via Griphook, thanking them for the donation of magically charged bronze (formerly biased Ministry fountain statues) and invited them to the Britain branch of Gringotts at their leisure to see the new bronze statues of some of the goblin race's most famous warriors that now decorated their lobby.

Harry had to spend his birthday in school, but spent the following Sunday with his friends, Sirius, and Remus, on one of the magically created archipelagoes off the southwestern coast of Atlantis. It was rather tropical there, and they spent most of the day at a white sand beach wakeboarding on the warm surf.

As August break came around Harry finally discovered the identities of Nicholas and Nelle, when he introduced Orlando to them one day, and the worshipful vampire informed him that they were Nicholas and Perenelle Flamel, renowned 700-year-old alchemist and his wife, who taught alchemy and advanced herbology classes (respectively) up at the University.

This finally prompted Nicholas to explain about his Philosopher's Stone.

Back when he and Nelle had been Harry's age (which was rather mind-boggling) they had attended the Academy, where they'd met, and then the University, where they married. At the University they'd met an angel, and become friends with him.

There were always Celestials in the world, at least one but usually two or even three at different stages of life. Angels were most common, there simply as 'sentinels' and 'to maintain balance'. An archangel might be born once every 2000 or so years, usually just before major upheavals in the world like a new religion or the rise or fall of a new empire. An archangel had appeared soon before the First World War but had been killed some time during the Second. At the moment there were three angels in the world, one here on Atlantis.

Laz, their friend on Atlantis was the reason they had created the Philosopher's Stone, and he was nearing the end of his life.

Laz had been rather cynical and bitter when they'd met him, teaching flying and potions and refereeing University Quidditch games. He'd seen too many friends and family grow old and die and leave him behind. So it was they spent years researching and experimenting before they created the first Philosopher's Stone.

It had stopped their aging, but prevented them from having more children, only their half-grown daughter from before they had begun using the Elixir.

It had taken them a while longer to make the second Stone. This one gave up its ability to turn base metals into gold to correct the flaw that caused infertility, but Nicholas and Nelle felt it was worth it. Their daughter, now with a family of her own, had declined using the Elixir so she would age with her family.

It was, in fact, the first Stone that had been given to and later destroyed by their daughter's descendent, Albus Dumbledore. No great loss to them.

Laz was nearing the end of his life, extended by a thousand or so years by his ascension to an angel. As they had promised him, they would remain alive as long as he did. But like Laz, they would welcome the coming final rest.

"What about a seraph?" Harry asked, "You said angels were common, even if that means there's only two or three at a time, and archangels are somewhat rare, but does that make seraphim practically mythical?"

Nelle laughed, "I suppose you could say that. There have not been any seraphim in the world since the two who removed Atlantis from it. Angels are there to balance the forces of nature and magic, that is why there is always at least once. They live a thousand or 1500 years longer than the natural life span of their birth-species. Archangels come in times of trouble, to balance the more chaotic forces, and unless killed live 1500 to 2000 years longer than their natural lifespan. Seraphim, who can live 2000 to 3000 years longer, come into the world only when it is in greatest peril, and usually that means an outside force – the infernals. Demons.

"Soon after Atlantis was moved the amount of demon incursions dropped, and around a thousand years ago those dementors are the only one left, really low level infernals, which is probably why there have been no seraphim since then. Only a few low level demons, no archdemons or, thank heavens, master demons so the archangels and angels can handle it."

"How would you tell them apart from veela, anyway?" Orlando asked. He hadn't heard so much about celestials before, the Atlantis history class barely covered them.

"Well first of all they aren't all human – celestials can ascend from any of the beings. In theory – some beings haven't had celestial from their Race before. Humans, vampires, lycanthropes, veela, goblins, elves, and fae all have, as far as I know.

"You should know this part – angels have one pair of wings, archangels two pairs and seraphim have three pairs, which signal the amount of power or potential power they have at their disposal." The two boys nodded. "Right, well they aren't just feathery wings. They aren't even solid, though they can look solid. They are a visible extension of the aura and magic of the celestial, color matching the person's aura. Feathered wings are common, yes, but bat wings are more common for goblins and certain fae, and others have had butterfly and dragonfly style wings, and I've been told there was an elf archangel that had bunches of what appeared to be ribbons or scarves… although Laz could have been having me on about that."

The conversation turned back to her and Nicholas's long lives and experiences at that point, but Harry was left to wonder privately if, since the archangel that had appeared for the World Wars had been killed, another would rise in his place some time soon. After all, hadn't the Dark Lord Voldemort begun branching out from England before his fall in the last Wizarding War? And the horcrux that had been removed from his scar suggested the dark wizard might still be out there somehow, so who knew if he would become the next world-wide threat.

Maybe Harry would be around to see the next archangel ascension. How cool would that be?!

* * *

**Author's Note: **I had a review in response to the Snape poll saying they didn't like it when an author sets up a poll and allows reviewers to dictate big parts of the plot since it takes away from the author's imagination. Just to clear this up: In my story _Snape is not a major character!_ He pretty much just has a bit part. It does absolutely nothing to my plot whether Snape lives or dies, it just helps fill out my Hogwarts chapters mostly and gives me a bit extra to add in, in the later chapters.

Since Snape isn't such a main character as he was in canon it doesn't matter that much – and the suggestions for Neville blowing him up and then later becoming an ingredient supplier were much better than ignoring his existence! Really, stuff with him is a filler. What his presence adds to later in the story would have added in before his death had I chosen (and you all voted) to kill him off, so what happens to him _does not affect my plot at all_. Therefore I had no problems with setting up a poll involving him. Just to reassure you people offset by the poll. Provided said upset people are even still reading at this point.

**This story is now on hold: **I apologize for the length of time it took to get this chapter out, but I'm going to do it again. I have several reasons for putting the story on hold. First of all, I have now reached the point where detailed outlines have disappeared and I now have to write with only a few major plot points to guide me. So chapters will definitely slow down from now just anyway. Second, and more importantly, my life has priority over fanfiction and there is Stuff To Do that will take me some time. Not sure how long, I'm hoping only a month before I can get back to SPW. But I procrastinate enough without distracting myself by writing fanfiction, so I'm putting this story on the backburner for the time being. Sorry! Be back when I can!

_**Please review!!!**_


End file.
